Legend of Zelda: The White Magician
by Daricio
Summary: Ryou Bakura has a dream, in which three goddesses tell him that he must help the hero save the world. He wakes up to find himself in the land of Hyrule where he meets young Link, who is just starting his adventures...R&R!
1. In Which Ryou has a Dream

Daricio: Okay, this story used to be on my ADarkerDari account, so if you think you've seen it before, it was there, but now it's here, and I'm not breaking copyright infringements or any of that junk cause it's my story. I moved it here because nobody was reviewing on it where it was, and I hoped it would get more attention here. So when you're done reading it, please oh pretty please review or I'll be sad.

Malik: (rolls eyes) You're hopeless, Daricio.

Daricio: u.u I know I am, but what are you?

Malik: I think you're backwards.

Daricio: ... whatever. Anyway, so this first chapter isn't supposed to make sense, so don't judge the rest of the story on it. Dreams aren't supposed to make sense, this is just an intro to the rest of the story, so there. Even if you don't like the first chapter, at least start to read the second chaper before you pass judgement on it, kay?

* * *

White. All around, nothing but white. A teenage boy was blinking desperately at his surroundings, hoping to see something other than the blinding whiteness, but that seemed to be all that existed in this place.

There wasn't even ground to focus on; looking down, the boy could see only his own sneakers blurring in the white of their non-existent background. He seemed to be floating in an eternity of nothing.

"Hello?" he called out. His voice seemed to be swallowed up in the expanse. He wasn't even sure if he even heard himself or if he was just imagining it. "Is there anybody here? Hello?"

He was met with silence. He was beginning to panic. What was going on? How did he get here? Where was here? Why was there nothing and nobody here?

The boy was caught off guard when he suddenly became aware of a golden something shimmering in the distance. He held his hand up to his eyes, trying to shade them from the brightness so that he could see it. He didn't care what it was; it was _something_ in all this nothing, and that was a relief.

As the object got larger, he realized that it was coming towards him, getting closer all the time. When the details of the object were close enough for him to recognize it, he gasped, trying to back away but finding himself unable to find purchase on the nothing.

It was a golden triangle with the Egyptian symbol of the eye of Ra dividing it into three sections. Around the triangle was a ring of gold, off which was hanging five golden pointers, like an Indian dream-catcher. At the top of this was a golden loop meant for turning the whole thing into a pendant.

The triangle ring came just within arm's reach of the boy and stopped, hovering ominously with an odd humming sound, a faint glow radiating from the gold.

The boy watched it. "What do you want?" he finally asked faintly.

One pointer on the base of the ring lifted in his direction before dropping and clinking gently against the others. He swallowed hard. "Why me? Because of... him?"

The ring began to vibrate, its pointers clacking together in a sound of negation. Three cracks began to form in the gold of the ring right at the points of the triangle inside. The boy stared. "You-you're breaking?" He reached out a hand. "But how can I help? Why me, of all people?"

"Because you are its guardian."

The boy gasped and turned around as best he could to face the direction the voice had come from. Standing there were three young women, dressed conservatively in three different colors. Their eyes seemed to glow with knowledge and power, and their hair flowed iridescently matching the colors of their dresses.

The one in the middle, in all red, nodded at him, indicating that she had spoken.

"Who... Who are you?" the boy asked with reverence in his voice. It was hard not to be in awe of these women.

"We are the three goddesses, creators of a land not far from here." They spoke together, their soft voices in harmony and ringing with power.

"I am Din, Goddess of Power." The red-clad woman said.

"I am Farore, Goddess of Courage." This was from the one in light green.

"I am Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom." The woman in blue nodded at him.

The boy stared in shock. He was in the presence of goddesses? He bowed his head to them. "I-I mean no disrespect, but what do you want with me? Why is the Millennium Ring acting like this?"

Din spoke again. "The sacred triangle is about to be discovered by a man who does not deserve its power. You are the Guardian, the perfect balance between the three forces and you must help the hero to rejoin the pieces. If you do not, the world itself will fall."

"Rejoin the pieces?" The boy repeated. "Pieces of what?"

The three spoke together once more, all holding out both hands to him. "You will understand. The hero will hold the power to destroy evil, but only you hold the power of the goddesses. The pure power of the Triforce, which can put Our land back together."

There was a sound of shattering behind him and he turned to see what it was, but felt himself falling before he could see. He let out a yell.

"You will understand." He heard faintly once again. Then, suddenly, he awoke with a start.

(Divider)

Ryou Bakura shot straight up in bed with a gasp, running his hands through his hair and finding that he was drenched in a cold sweat. What kind of a dream was that?

The dream... He glanced over to his nightstand where the Millennium Ring lay, glinting innocently in the moonlight. He picked it up and ran his finger around the ring that encircled the center triangle and found that, obviously, there were no cracks or even dents on its surface.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked him. He jumped, dropping the Ring back onto the nightstand in surprise.

"Nothing." He said quickly. "Just had a strange dream is all."

He immediately regretted admitting this as the spirit of the Ring rolled his eyes. "Dreams are dreams. You don't need to go checking over everything every time you have a dream about it."

"I know. It just makes me feel better." Ryou said, lying back down on his bed and sighing, thinking about the dream. "I've never had a dream like that before, though..."

The spirit considered his host for a moment before sitting at the end of the bed. "Tell me about it. Sometimes dreams have meanings that can be interpreted."

Ryou gave him an odd look, then shrugged, not seeing any harm in it besides the fact that he had school in the morning and it was currently around 3 AM. He began to tell the spirit about his dream.


	2. In Which Ryou Comes to Hyrule

Okay, here's the story: after I wrote that first chapter eons ago not expecting to do anything else with it, I started school, got really bored waiting for the bus, so I started to write out the rest of the story in my notebook. Then I typed it out and posted it here. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger, which is part of the reason I've moved it here to my Daricio account in the first place.

I am going to do my best to make the events of the story **not** follow the events of the game exactly, but keep in mind that in order for me to write anything even remotely good, it has to be based off of something else, and I have to follow it pretty closely. Hence "Where's Yugi"...

... I must say though... Somewhere along the line, most likely due to the fact that I've been writing this out in my notebook while waiting for the bus and such every day as something to do, this has become my longest short-story-that-I-don't-intend-to-finish, and I may end up finishing it. o.o''

(Divider)

Usually, after having a dream as strange as the one he had just had, Ryou had a hard time trying to get back to sleep, especially when Bakura realized that he had had a nightmare about something that was a pathetic thing to be scared of and decided to tease him about it.

Tonight, though, Bakura was oddly quiet, pondering Ryou's dream as though he found something familiar about it, though Ryou himself, thinking back on it, was just annoyed at himself for waking up in a cold sweat in the first place. He didn't think twice about the actual dream part—it was just a dream, after all—but Bakura didn't seem to think so.

Continuously, after several minutes of silence, when Ryou was just starting to drift back to sleep, the spirit would ask him another question clarifying the dream, bringing him back firmly awake each time. The questions weren't being asked just to torment Ryou into being tired the next morning, however, and soon Bakura found himself addressing a boy too deeply asleep to answer him.

This greatly annoyed the thief, and he stalked back to his own soul room, where he eventually slept, still unsure as to why his hikari's dream kept him so preoccupied, and even more frustrated because of it.

Ryou awoke the next morning to the sun shining in on his face and he blindly began reaching around for the curtain pull by his bed. Failing this, he grabbed the blanket, pulled it up over his head, and turned on his side facing away from the incoming light.

Doing this sent up a small shower of small sharp things into his face, and he groaned, lifting his head to peer blearily at his alarm clock.

Or rather, where his alarm clock used to be.

Lying in a pile where his nightstand usually stood, was a load of hay, and looking dolefully at him from the other side of it, leaning over to take another bite of the hay, was a large cow.

Ryou cried out in surprise and scuttled away from it, now very much awake. From across the room he heard a light giggle, and he vaguely sensed Bakura stirring in the back of his mind.

Quickly, Ryou looked around, taking in his decidedly unfamiliar surroundings. He was in what looked like a barn. Stabled in rows across from where he was lying in a large pile of hay, seven or eight horses were watching him. On either side of him, several milk cows were deeply immersed in their food, ignoring him.

Finally, his gaze settled on a young red-haired girl sitting on a fence in the middle of the barn, still giggling slightly at his confusion. Ryou blinked slowly at her. "Who are you?" he asked, feeling somewhat stupid as he did so.

She giggled at him again, making him feel worse. "I'm Malon, the daughter of Talon who owns this ranch."

(A/n: I just tried to type Malon, and ended up typing Malik. U.u If you see the word Malik occurring in this story, it means Malon. Malik isn't really here, I'm just crazy.)

"Ranch? Er, not to be rude or anything, Malon, but where am I?" As he spoke, Ryou silently prodded Bakura. '_Yami, you might want to see this. We're not where we were when we went to sleep last night..._'

He felt Bakura peer blearily outward, then heard him curse. '_I thought I felt the Ring activate earlier... It's transported us somewhere._'

Meanwhile, Malon was answering his question. "This is Lon Lon Ranch. I came out to milk the cows this morning, and I found you sleeping out here in the hay, so I brought you a blanket."

"Lon Lon Ranch... Where's that at?" Ryou asked, trying to get his bearings.

"It's right in the middle of Hyrule Field, about a day's walk, or half a day's ride, to Hyrule Castle Town." Malon replied.

"Hyrule? What country is Hyrule in?" Ryou asked, feeling dumber by the second.

Malon gave him an odd look. "Hyrule _is_ a country. This is the land of Hyrule, recently at war, but united by the good King of Hyrule. How did you get all the way into the middle of it without knowing where you were?"

"The land of... Oh my..." Ryou's eyes were widening as he began to realize the same thing his yami was. He heard Bakura curse again.

'_I think we've been transported to another world, yadonushi... look at the girl's ears!_'

Ryou looked, blinking at them. Unlike his own normal ears, hers were very long and pointed at the top, like an elf's. He debated asking her if she was one, then decided that it would be rude, and just bit his lip.

Malon looked him over. "So, where are you from? What's your name?"

"I'm from a place called Domino, in Japan." He sighed. "I don't suppose you've heard of it? I kind of need to get back there, but I'm not even sure how I got here, or where here is..."

She shook her head. "I've never heard of Japan before..."

"And I've never heard of Hyrule before," Ryou replied, frowning. "My name's Ryou Bakura, by the way.."

"Nice to meet you, Ryoubakura. That's a kind of a funny name, isn't it?"

Ryou gave her a small smile. "No, not Ryoubakura. Ryou Bakura. Two separate names, a first name and a last name."

She frowned. "Oh. Which name am I supposed to call you, then?" she asked, perplexed.

"Just call me Ryou, I suppose," he sighed.

Malon watched him for a moment, before making a sudden conclusion. "You're really not from Hyrule, are you? I've never actually met anyone who wasn't, before. Does everyone in your land wear clothes like that?"

Ryou quickly glanced down at himself, relieved for once to see that he had accidentally slept in the clothes he had worn the day before. With all the things he had been through so far this morning, he half expected to be stuck in this world wearing nothing but his pajamas.

"Yeah, most people wear stuff like this. Sweatshirt and jeans, and all." Ryou said with a strained smile.

"So you're trying to get home, right?" Malon asked, changing the subject. "Back to Japan?"

Ryou nodded. "Unless I find out that there's some reason for me to be here..."

"Good. Dad and I have to make a delivery to Hyrule Castle later today, and we could use an extra hand getting things going, since Ingo doesn't help much. Then while we're in Hyrule Castle Town, you can ask around and see if anyone knows where you need to go."

Ryou nodded again. "That sounds good to me. Er, what kind of things would I be able to help with?"

"Do you know how to hitch a horse up to a wagon?"

Now the boy slumped against the hay. "No. I don't even really much know how to ride a horse. I live in a big city, I've only ridden maybe once or twice. I'm not very good."

He heard a derisive snort from Bakura and retorted, '_What? I'm not!_'

'_You, maybe not. Me, though? I've been riding horses for centuries. Don't give yourself a bad name, it just gives me one too._'

Ryou turned a little red at this, which Malon apparently took as embarrassment for his poor riding skills. "Don't worry, I'll teach you. The horses here are all very well trained, and they love to be ridden. Well, except for Epona, but she's spoiled, so she doesn't count. A ride into town should be no problem!"

She hopped down from the fence and started for the door. "Come on, Ryou! I'll take you to meet my father. He'll be glad for the extra help!"

Ryou hurriedly jumped up and brushed the hay off his clothes and shook it out of his hair, then ran after her.

(Divider)

By the time the three of them—Malon, Talon, and Ryou—rode into Hyrule Castle Town, it was midday, and the streets just inside the gates were busy with people. Talon was riding a small one-horse wagon loaded with boxes of milk, cream, and cheese, while Ryou and Malon rode separate horses along side him.

Or rather, Bakura and Malon rode; Ryou sort of gave up after almost falling off his horse for the third time in ten minutes. Besides, Bakura had wanted out for a while anyway, and he was glad to be back on a horse again.

Malon, like most people, didn't notice the difference and complimented Bakura on his suddenly improved riding skills. Bakura just shrugged.

In town, they were forced to dismount and lead their horses to a stable, lest they trample people in the crowd. They kept close to the cart so as not to be separated from each other. Not that Bakura was worried about getting lost; he could see that the main town square wasn't very big, though he couldn't tell how far out the back alleys extended.

On the side across from the town's entrance, the buildings gave way to two large, official looking paths. One path led to what looked to be a very fancy church. The other path's destination was hidden by a curve in the road that went behind the buildings in the square. It was towards this second path that the three of them jostled through a crowd of harried shoppers, laughing children chasing runaway chickens, and even dancing couples.

The path was blissfully empty, and a guarded gate up ahead, around a vine-covered cliff, revealed why. Beyond the gate lay the grounds of Hyrule Castle, where the King and Princess of Hyrule lived, and not many people were granted access to the castle.

Perched in a tree by the gate, an abnormally large owl seemed to look down on them all knowingly, but Bakura, Malon, and her father simply ignored it. Paying it too much attention sent shivers down anyone's spine.

At the gate, the guard allowed Talon and his wagon through, but informed Bakura and Malon that due to security precautions, minors were not allowed in with him. Malon seemed used to this, but Bakura was somewhat put out.

After a few mutters, consisting mainly of "who does he think he's calling a minor?" and "we'll see how he likes it..." he followed Malon back into the hustle and bustle of the town square.

Once there, he curtly told Malon that he was exploring by himself, and took off, only just hearing her call to meet her back at the path entrance before dark. Bakura flowed through the crowd, as only a practiced thief can do.

Soon enough, Bakura was standing in front of one of the many market stands, looking boredly over the merchandise, and though the man walking away from him hadn't yet noticed that his pouch was missing, Ryou was making a big fuss over it.

'_Shush. This is the easiest way to figure out how the currency here works._' Bakura explained in annoyance, taking one last look at some item on the table and casually strolling away, opening up the leather pouch to look inside.

'_And just asking Malon about it isn't easy?_' Ryou asked in a stressed sort of way.

'_We've asked her enough questions. Remember, yadonushi, when in a strange place, never let anyone know just how much you don't know. Thieves and con artists orient on people who don't know what they're doing._'

Ryou sighed. '_You would know._'

'_Exactly._'

The boy sighed again, not arguing any further, knowing that any other argument he could make against Bakura's thievery would just be refuted, having had many similar conversations with the tomb robber before. He had made his complaints, and Bakura knew them, so continuing to make them again would only push his yami's patience.

Bakura blinked at the bag's contents, then poured a few out into his hand. He had been expecting something akin to gold coins in a land like this, but instead, several colors of shimmering glass crystals lay on his hand.

He looked around, confirming that this was indeed what the people around here were spending and using as currency, then brought his attention back to the crystals. On each of them, Bakura could sense a focused spell, rendering the glass unbreakable and the currency virtually unduplicatable. It was a good system.

Each color of stone seemed to represent a different value, but he had yet to match the green, red, and blue stones to their proper value. To determine this, he listened to the sellers' various prices on things, then watched as people paid for them, looking closely at the amounts that were given for the different prices.

"Genuine Deku Nuts, straight from the Kokiri Forest! Stun your enemies! Play jokes on your friends! Only thirty rupees for ten nuts!"

"Get your fresh apples here! Sweet and juicy, sure to refill your energy! Only ten rupees!"

"This fifty rupee amulet will protect you from wayward Stalchilds! Get one today for traveling convenience!"

"The finest daggers available are here today! Tempered in the mysterious Geradu Fortress, brought to you today for a low, low, price of 200 rupees!"

Ryou told Bakura to leave the daggers alone, and they went to watch customers pay for the smaller items instead, slowly figuring out that the green stones, or rupees, as they were called here, meant one, the blue ones were worth five, the red ones were worth twenty, and purple meant fifty.

For now, they would just assume that these were the only denominations, and if they happened upon another color, they would just assume that it was worth more than the people here were willing to spend.

Bakura tipped the contents of the bag into his pockets, then ditched it. They kept just as well in pockets as in bags, and he wanted to avoid an uncomfortable 'Hey, isn't that mine?' moment.

Now that the money system had been figured out, Bakura decided that he'd rather look inside the actual shops, away from the loud shouts of the haggling shoppers. He slipped into one and began to look at the various items on the small shelf behind the shopkeeper.

Said shopkeeper began to eye him suspiciously, so Bakura decided that he'd better go for an innocent look to draw attention away from him. He let Ryou have control.

"Hello," Ryou said politely. "I'm new here. What sort of shop is this?"

The shopkeeper's look faded and he began to explain the various items on the shelf to him. Ryou listened interestedly, eventually deciding to buy one of the pretty hearts, even though he wasn't sure exactly what it was.

The shopkeeper handed it over, and immediately it disappeared, sinking into Ryou's hands. Ryou's eyes widened as he felt a healing spell of some sort wash over his body. He had been beginning to feel tired from his journey here, but now that was gone, and he felt fine.

'_That was odd._' Ryou said, thanking the man and leaving the shop.

'_There's a lot of magic spells being used around this place, and yet none of the people around here have enough magic in them to even light a candle, much less create the spells on the items being sold._' Bakura mused to himself. '_So where do these items come from?_'

Ryou shrugged, his motion unnoticed by all but Bakura due to the jostling of the crowds. '_No clue. Which shop should we try next?_'

Bakura activated the Millennium Ring and it appeared on its cord around Ryou's neck, one pointer on the bottom indicating a direction. '_That one. I want to see if I can orient on a magic user._'

'_Fine by me._' Ryou pushed his way through the crowd until he reached an odd looking shop with large arches over the doorway. He entered the shop.

Unfortunately, there was no one there. The Millennium Ring was pointing towards behind the counter, but there were anti-trespassing spells on the shelves back there so strong that neither Ryou nor Bakura could get back there.

Nor did Bakura dare to try messing with the spells until he had a better notion of who was casting them. The magic here was not Shadow Magic, and there was no telling what kind of backfire a mix of the two magics would bring.

Instead, the two of them read the extremely large sign that was posted in front of the counter, telling them that the "Happy Mask" shop would open for the first time soon, but that one could not buy masks directly from the shop. Instead, one could volunteer to borrow a mask and try to get others to buy it from them. These salespeople would be the only way a person could buy masks. A very unreliable way to get business, in Ryou's opinion.

They left the shop, both feeling a little annoyed. They wandered around a little, eventually finding themselves in a very odd looking shop.

Instead of the usual counter in front with items for sale on shelves behind, there was a large indentation in the wall. Beyond that, there was a blocky thing with spikes coming off each corner, sliding horizontally back and forth across the floor. And beyond that was a wall with a flashy target painted on it. From somewhere behind that, they could almost swear they heard the clucking of chickens.

Bakura took over again and stepped forward, watching the spike thing move back and forth with a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.

"Do you want to play?" a voice from his right inquired. He glanced over to see a girl in her late teens leaning over a counter, watching him.

"Play what?" he asked.

"This is the Bombchu Bowling Alley," she replied. "We give you ten bombchu, and you use them to try and hit the targets without hitting the things in the way."

"Bombchu?" Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Moving bombs," she clarified. Bakura's eyebrow went higher. "For the purposes of this game, they're fairly harmless, as they just need to be powerful enough to activate the sensors in the targets, but in real life they're pretty formidable. Once you activate them, they start moving forward in a straight line until they run out of fuse or they hit something. Then they explode. They'll even run along the walls and ceiling!"

Bakura made a hmph sound. "Interesting. And how do the bombchu know that they've reached a wall to climb up, and not blow up every time they reach a corner?"

She gave him a blank look. "Sir, I just work here, I didn't invent the things," she said dryly.

Bakura laughed at her. "Fair enough. How much?" he asked, knowing that such a game wouldn't be free.

"Thirty rupees," she replied automatically.

"That's a lot for just a game," Bakura commented, turning to look back at the target.

She frowned at him. "Well, we have to fix the walls after each game, and if you manage to hit the third target, you get a prize, so we have to be able to pay for all that," she said defensively.

Bakura waved her silent. "Fine, fine, I get it," he said. He wasn't actually worried about running out of money at the moment. The people here spent money like it grew on trees or something, so nobody seemed to notice a few rupees going missing here or there.

It could be debated that the money he had just acquired could be put to much better use, but Bakura just couldn't pass up an opportunity to legitimately play with explosives.

He placed three rupees, one red and two blue, on the table and the girl handed him a couple of bombchu and showed him how to activate it. He turned towards the target, aimed carefully, threw the switch and let it go...

(Divider)

(A/n: Bombchu Bowling Alley is one of my favorite parts of Ocarina of Time. I just had to include it. nn)

Several hours later, Bakura exited the shop, his hands and face darkened with soot, laughing to himself. Who knew blowing up chickens would be so much fun?

Besides, he had been able to win a few good prizes, and even Ryou had tried his hand once or twice, winning them a fancy "bomb bag" for carrying regular bombs in, which, they were told, could be bought in a shop across the square.

Looking up at the sky, however, Bakura could see that they weren't going to have enough time to look into the shop before it got dark and they had to meet up with Malon. With a sigh, he let Ryou have control again.

The crowd had thinned out by now, as most people were on their way home, so it was much easier to maneuver. Ryou walked the short distance to the fountain in the middle of the square and rinsed off his hands and face.

The Bombchu Bowling Alley had been really fun, but it had used up a lot of time that could have been spent doing other things. Now he had to go meet up with Malon instead.

Turning and walking he found himself running abruptly into a kid wearing green clothes, who looked to be about 5 years younger than he was. Hastily, he apologized for not watching where he was going, but the boy didn't leave.

"Hey, you're as different around here as I am," he said randomly. "Are you new around here, too?"

Ryou scratched his cheek. "Is it that obvious? Actually, you don't look very different than most people I've been running into..."

And it was true. He looked like just a normal boy, besides the fact that his clothes were of a different variety than he was used to, and his ears were pointed, but then, that was true of everyone he saw around here. The only thing that seemed to set him apart from those around him here was a small, glowing orb that hovered over his shoulder, bobbing up and down as if waiting for him.

The boy laughed. "You mean you've run into more than just me?"

Ryou turned a little red. "I didn't mean literally..."

Then, to Ryou's surprise, the orb above the boy's head shook itself up and down, creating a jingling sound. A high pitched voice came from its general direction. "Link, shouldn't we be trying to continue our quest?"

The boy, obviously named Link, nodded. "Right. Say, you wouldn't happen to know how to get to the castle from here, would you?"

Ryou kept his eyes on the glowing orb. "Yeah, I know how to get there. That's kind of the direction I was heading, actually, I can take you to the gate." He remembered something and turned back to the boy. "Though, I'm not sure if they'll let you in. I tried to go in earlier, and they wouldn't let me."

Link's expression darkened. "I'll get in. I'm on a quest given to me by the Great Deku Tree. If I don't warn the princess about the man from the desert, he's going to take over the world!"

The orb sighed in exasperation. "Sure, tell everyone! Reckless boy... What if you end up telling somebody who's working for him?" There were a few grumbles at this, but Link shut up on that topic.

'_Saving the world? That sounds familiar..._' Ryou thought. Bakura just shrugged.

Suddenly thinking of something, Ryou looked around. "Say, where are your parents? Surely this deku tree or whoever wouldn't send a 10-year-old out on his own...?"

"I don't have any parents. And I'm not 10 years old! I'm a Kokiri," Link said proudly.

"A what?" Ryou blinked.

'_Must be another term for midget._' Bakura suggested. Ryou chose not to honor this remark with an answer.

Link explained. "The Kokiri are forest spirits given form by the Great Deku Tree in the Kokiri Forest. We don't have parents besides the Great Deku Tree, and I'm not necessarily 10 years old because the Kokiri are spirits; we never grow up. We don't know for sure who's how old, cause nobody keeps track..."

Ryou blinked at the information overload. "Oookay..."

Now Link scowled. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Like you said, I'm new around here. I'd never even heard of Hyrule before I came here, much less know about the different cultures. I'd never even heard of people actually having pointed ears!" Ryou apologized.

Link glanced at Ryou's own ears, looking somewhat disappointed that Ryou hadn't been more agreeable, and yet intrigued by Ryou's round ears. The orb made another jingling sound, with a loud, "Ahem!"

"Oh, yeah. So, you said you'd take me to the castle gate?"

Ryou nodded. "Sure. Glad to help."

The two of them, (or three if you counted the orb, and four if you counted Bakura), started toward the entrance of the path that led to the castle. Once there, Ryou looked around but, not seeing Malon anywhere, decided that he could walk with Link up to the gate itself.

"By the way, I'm Ryou." He introduced himself as they walked.

"I'm Link. This is Navi." Link indicated the floating orb.

Ryou looked up at it. "Um, not to be rude, but... What is Navi?"

The orb giggled. "I'm a fairy." Navi flew closer to Ryou so that he could see more than just the orb, which turned out to be glowing light that originated from a winged humanoid shape. "I'm honor-bound to help Link, as all fairies are to help their chosen Kokiri. Usually fairies are bonded to the Kokiri they chose at the time of that Kokiri's creation, but in this case, I was assigned to help Link with this quest by the Great Deku Tree."

"Ah. It's nice to meet you then, Navi." Ryou said politely.

"Nice to meet you too." She returned to her perch on Link's hat.

Ryou looked back down at Link. "By the way, Link... I know Navi doesn't want you telling people, but, who's trying to take over the world now?" Link hesitated and Ryou added, "You see, I've had to deal with power-crazy megalomaniacs trying to take over the world before, so I've got some experience."

'_Gee, thanks._' Bakura snorted.

Link frowned. "Ok. See, I was summoned to go see the Great Deku Tree, and he told me that an evil man from the desert had wanted a powerful item from him. The Great Deku Tree didn't give it to him, so he cursed him. I was able to get rid of the curse, but it was too late..." Link bit his lip. "The Great Deku Tree gave me the item—a green gem called the Kokiri Emerald—and told me to go find the Princess of Destiny at Hyrule Castle. Then, he died..."

Ryou gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. In fact, according to the other Kokiri, it's my fault. I'm the only one the Great Deku tree told about the evil man, and since I was the last one with him before he died..."

Ryou's eyes widened. "But you didn't do-"

"I know," Link sighed. "But they don't. Now, I've told you my story, what's yours?"

Now Ryou hesitated. "I'm not sure how much of this you'll believe, but..."

Link shrugged. "I've been through enough in the past week or so. Try me."

"Okay..." Ryou bit his lip, trying to decide where to begin. "Let's see... About 5000 years ago, there was a magic force so great that the ruler of the land, called the Pharaoh, locked it away into seven Millennium Items," he said in one uber-summarization.

Link peered up at him. "If this was five thousand years ago, how does this affect you?"

"I'm getting to that." Ryou frowned. "One of my friends owns the Millennium Puzzle, which had belonged to the Pharaoh. It's the most powerful of the Millennium Items, so a lot of bad guys often attack him in order to get their hands on it. Since whoever gets a hold of all seven items gets pretty much infinite power, as far as I know, I guess me helping him defend against those bad guys counts as saving the world."

'_We'll conveniently ignore the fact that I am one of 'those bad guys', as well as the fact that you also have a Millennium Item._' Bakura put in unhelpfully.

Link nodded. "Yeah, I guess that would count. So what are you doing here now?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I'm trying to figure that out myself and trying to get home, if possible. Though I have a vague feeling that three goddesses have something to do with it. They told me I had to help the hero, whatever that means."

"Oh. Well, this land has three goddesses, though I don't know of any heroes around here, unless you count me and my quest... Oh, there's the gate," Link pointed out, striding towards it.

(A/n: Either those two walk really slow or they talk really fast, if they're just now coming to the gate. o.O')

Link strode up to the guards, trying his best to look official and important. "I need to speak with the Princess Zelda."

The guard, predictably, laughed at him. "Right, kid."

"I'm serious. I'm an official messenger from the Kokiri Forest, and I have a message of great importance to give to the princess. Let me in, please." Link frowned.

The guard just shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I ain't falling for that one, not with my job on the line. Listen, kid. The Kokiri can't survive outside their forest; it's too far away from their precious deku tree."

Link looked apprehensive. "It... it's really important... I had to risk it..."

"Kid, go home. You're wasting your time if you think you can convince me, 'cause your little games aren't going to work."

"Listen, you! I, ack!" Link was cut off by Ryou pulling him back. "What?"

Ryou glanced up at the cliff off to the side of the gate. "Don't bother getting angry, he's not worth it. Come on."

Reluctantly, Link followed his new friend back around the corner. Ryou almost bumped into Malon, who was waiting at the corner.

"Oh, hello Ryou. Dad hasn't come back yet, so we can't leave. Who's your friend?" Malon smiled.

"Malon, this is Link. Link, this is Malon." Ryou introduced.

"Oh! Is that a fairy?" Malon inquired, intrigued.

"Um, well, yeah. This is Navi," Link said.

"Link's from the Kokiri forest. He's a messenger sent by the Great Deku Tree to give a warning to the princess, but the guards don't believe him and won't let him in." Ryou explained.

"I see." Malon sighed. "So Fairy-boy has a similar predicament as I do. I need to go into the castle to go find my dad. He's probably fallen asleep somewhere again, and we really need to get going back home."

"Fairy boy?" Link demanded at the same time Ryou asked, "Fallen asleep?"

"Yes," Malon answered them both. Then she spoke to Ryou. "He's pretty lazy, and when he falls asleep, he sleeps hard. Only a cucco can wake him!" She giggled. "I think it's funny, but it can be troublesome, like now. The guards won't let any of us in."

"Yeah." Ryou thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "But there may be another way into the castle." He let Bakura take control.

'_Why, you mean you're actually going to let me break into a heavily guarded area?_' Bakura laughed.

'_Enjoy it while you can._' Ryou returned.

"Really? What do you mean?" Malon asked naively. Bakura simply nodded at the vines growing on the cliff side behind her, then pushed past and began to climb. "You mean sneak in?"

"That's exactly what I mean. Malon, you stay here. Link, come with me." Bakura reached the top and hauled himself up the last bit onto solid ground.

Link nodded and grabbed hold of the vines, preparing to climb.

"Wait," Malon stopped him, digging in a small cushioned purse. "Take this with you." She gave Link a large, warm egg.

Bakura poked his head over the cliff to look. "What's the egg for?"

"Like I said, when my dad falls asleep, nothing short of a cucco can wake him." Malon giggled. "This should hatch soon, then you can use it to wake him up."

"Thanks," Link said, tucking it carefully into his pouch.

The white-haired thief looked incredulous. "Wait a minute, what? Okay, by cucco I'm going to assume you mean chicken, and that makes sense, but how's a baby chick going to do any better job waking somebody up than what we can do alone?"

"Baby chick? I think you've got something a little mixed up. Cuccos usually come out of their eggs fully grown, there are no babies," Malon explained.

"Full grown?" Bakura looked at her like she was crazy. "What kind of messed up world did we end up in?!" Before either of the two on the ground could answer or question his phrasing, he disappeared from their sight, heading silently for the top of the gate.

Link shrugged at Malon, then began to climb. "See you, I guess."

"Sure! Stop by the ranch any time! Bye!"

He reached the top and started after Bakura. It was time to break into the castle...

(Divider)

Daricio: Okay, originally, I didn't stop it here, but since this here is already at 15 pages, I broke it off here cause it was a vaguely good stopping spot and I didn't feel like having a 20 to 23 page second chapter. u.u

Malik: hey, why did you leave me out of the top author note? And how can you miss-type Malon as Malik, any how?

Daricio: Dunno. Just used to typing Malik and not so used to typing Malon.

Malik: I'm not sure if her being used to typing my name is a good thing or not... And you ignored my first question.

Daricio: u.u You can just stick your cards right up your nose!

Malik: ... say what?

Radley: She's in quote mode. My advice? Ignore her.

Daricio: Guard my multimillion dollar company for me while I'm gone, kaythanks.

Malik: ... but you don't have a multimillion—

Radley: Ignore her.

Malik: ... Oh... ... OH! She's quoting that stupid Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged thing she saw on youtube!

Radley: Brilliant deduction, genius.

Daricio: (dark Bakura-ish voice) I will be a main character! Even if it takes me another two hundred bloody episodes...

Radley: ... Right, that's enough product placement for one night. (drags Daricio out of the room)

Daricio: (yelling from the other room) Maybe next time, you'll put more than three monsters in your deck!!!!

Malik: ... Oh sure, leave me to deal with the readers. U.u''

Kaiba: (was just typing on his laptop, now sighs and pulls up a separate screen.) Relax, she just e-mailed me something... somehow. (prints, hands sheet to Malik, goes back to typing)

Malik: Gee, how thoughtful. (Reading) "Who keeps throwing these cards at me? It's not funny you know. Stop it." ... wait a minute, you mean she just e-mailed you a list of more stupid quotes?

Kaiba: (shrugs) I think what she wanted read was under the quotes. (rolls eyes) _buried_ under them.

Malik: Great. Here, Kura, you do this, you're better at it, and this is your story anyway.

Kura: ... Thanks, really. (takes sheet, scans it) okay... random quote... random quote... another random quote... Oh, here we go. ... Nope, just another quote... um... Oh, okay. "Thanks everyone for reading my story! I'm having fun writing it, so I hope you're having fun reading it! The next chapter should be up already, since, again, I moved it from my other account to here, so just click the little next button, or if you feel so inclined, click the pretty review button in the other corner."

Malik: Any more?

Kura: Nope, just more random quotes. And various waving to her random friends...

Daricio: (pops back in) Must wave to peoples!!! (waves at Lisa and B/k and Claire) (gets dragged back out by Radley before she can spout more quotes)

Malik: Right, ending the chapter now before even more weird stuff happens. (hits chapter submit)


	3. In Which A Quest Is Begun

Daricio: Okies everyone, here's the bit that I hacked off the last chapter, plus the next bit. And so on and so forth...

Malik: ... (Sarcastic) You're obviously very coherent today.

Daricio: Why, thank you.

Malik: (rolls eyes) You're welcome.

Daricio: Oh, and I apologize in advance. This chapter doesn't contain a whole lot of action... After Link and Bakura break in, the chapter is mostly Link, Ryou, and Zelda going blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah (continues)

(Divider)

Link reached the top and started forward, stopping a few steps later when he realized that Bakura was out of sight. "Ryou?" he called.

"Shush!" came the reply. "Not so loud." Bakura seemed to materialize from the shadows. "Come on, follow me. There's a guard right across the bridge formed by the gate, but there appears to be a ladder on our side that leads down to the side of the gate we need to be on."

Link nodded, following Bakura into the shadows, unable to achieve the thief's soundlessness, but trying his best. Navi hid under his hat so as to hide the glow her wings made. They reached the ladder Bakura had mentioned.

"You go first," Bakura said, waving him over.

Link stepped on and pulled the rest of his body around to align with it, then began to climb down. Almost immediately, however, one insecurely placed foot slipped off a rung, causing him to simply freefall all the way down the ladder, yelling loudly and making a loud thump when he hit the ground. Navi made a squeak of protest as his hat fell off.

Bakura froze, glancing up at the guards so that he could hide if they looked his way. Strangely, both the guard at the main gate and the one standing across the bridge simply stood there, not moving, having apparently noticed nothing. Bakura blinked. '_Deaf guards. Perfect._'

Grabbing a hold on the edges of the ladder, he swung himself out over the hole and slid down the ladder, coming to a graceful stop beside Link, who was gingerly picking himself up off the ground.

"You're going to get us both caught," Bakura hissed, walking off before Link could answer.

"Sorry," Link muttered. "Yeesh..." He pulled his hat back on and Navi fluttered underneath it. Thus equipped, he followed Bakura.

Slipping between the lines of sight of several guards, who were apparently as blind as they were deaf, they found themselves at the drawbridge over the moat of the castle, which was fenced off. The gate to this area had two guards standing at attention, making it impossible to cross. The guards weren't, unfortunately, quite _that_ blind.

"Now what?" the smaller boy whispered.

"Shh." Bakura examined the area carefully. "Stay here, I'll check out the outer fence to see if there's a way in."

"What about that hill over there? Would that be high enough that we could just jump the fence?" Link pointed.

Bakura looked, then nodded curtly. "That might work. Not too shabby, kid." He started off towards the hill, on which they had to climb more vines, which grew conveniently on the steepest section.

Once they reached the top, they found that it was indeed high enough that they could easily hop the fence, though going back the other way would prove to be much more difficult.

Now that they were inside this fence, they began to look around for a way in. The drawbridge itself was up, and attempting to get in that way would just attract the attention of the guards. Maybe.

They noticed a small courtyard off to the right side of the castle and went over. There, there was a small service door, in front of which was several of the boxes Ryou had helped load into the cart that day. In front of that, Talon was fast asleep and snoring loudly, having apparently unloaded the boxes from the cart and decided to take a break.

Bakura went to go check the door as Link went to Talon's side, gently shaking his shoulder. The door was locked, and Talon did not stir. Efforts to make it past the door proved worthless; it was locked and barred from the inside, so lock picking was impossible.

Undaunted by the door's soundness, Bakura began to look around for another entrance, hopefully one that wasn't very well guarded. There were several windows open on the roof, but without any sort of grappling hook and rope, there was no way to gain access to them.

In fact, the only route that seemed likely was a small opening in the side of the castle wall beyond the moat, which was currently spouting water in a short waterfall to the moat. Bakura wanted to try this way last if at all possible, as it was now quite dark, and both the water and the air was too cold for his liking.

Scouting the area further, however, proved this entrance to be the only feasible way to go. Breaking down the door would cause too much noise, and the guards were sure to become suddenly a lot less blind and deaf if they were actively searching for an intruder rather than just boredly standing guard. The roof and any other entrances near it remained inaccessible. And what was worse, it would be very difficult to get out of the fenced off area of the moat without being caught, as they could not go back the way they had come.

That wet hole in the wall was the only way in. Now they just had to figure out how to get over there. Bakura gave one of the boxes an experimental push. It moved, easy enough that they could be moved about and hard enough to show that it had enough substance to hold his weight.

He nodded, his plan of action in place. The only problem now was that Talon, by some huge coincidence, was lying right in the spot where the boxes needed to go.

Bakura looked to Link, who was currently watching Bakura, waiting for his opinion on what to do next. "Okay, Talon's in our way, so we need to move him or wake him up."

"Talon's dead to the world," Link reported.

"What about that egg?"

Link frowned, checking his pouch. "It's not hatched yet."

"Shove him out of the way then."

"I'd like to see you try that," Link said dryly.

Bakura rolled his eyes, muttering to himself. He jumped down to the ledge along side the moat, crouched down, and began scooping water upward with his hands, drenching the ground beside Talon, who still didn't wake despite the water beginning to soak into the back of his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Link asked, observing from a distance.

Bakura observed his handiwork, climbed back up onto level ground, and went around to the other side of Talon. "Pushing him into the moat. The water makes it slippery, so he's easier to push. The water will shock him awake."

Link blinked. "And if it doesn't wake him up, he'll drown."

"No big loss. Now get over here and help push." Bakura placed his hands on the man's midsection and began shoving. Link hesitated a moment before grinning and taking up a position pushing at Talon's chest.

Within moments, the two had managed to push him into the moat, where he went down with a hard splash and came up sputtering, very much awake. "What in tarnation?" he cried.

Bakura laughed and stood back with his arms folded. Link glanced at him, then stepped forward to help Talon back out of the moat and began to explain. "Malon was wondering where you were, and so she sent us to go find you."

Talon stood there dripping wet, absorbing this information and shivering slightly in the night's cold before it suddenly hit him what Link was talking about. "Oh! Oh, no, Malon's going to be furious!"

"Actually, she seemed to think it was kind of funny," Bakura noted with a smirk.

The man shook his head, looking, of all things, scared. "Oh, you'd think so, but if there's one thing Malon hates, it's having to wait for me, especially when I do something stupid like fall asleep on the job, like now."

Link wiped his wet hands on the front of his tunic. "Well, so you'd better get back to her, then."

"Of course, of course." Talon was wringing his hands. "Ryou, are you going to be coming back with us?"

Bakura paused a moment to consult with Ryou, then shook his head. "No, I've decided to stay here and help Link with his quest."

Talon nodded. "Right then. Thanks for your help earlier today. Feel free to come visit the ranch any time, both of you, then. I've got to go, so I'll see you later."

He turned on his heel and took off running, still dripping water as he ran. Link and Bakura watched him go around the corner and head for the path. They waited until he was out of earshot, glanced at each other, then began laughing.

Soon though, it was back to business. The two of them set about moving the boxes Talon had left there so that they could get close enough to jump to the ledge in front of the waterfalling hole.

Link was worried that Bakura, being much bigger than he was, wouldn't be able to fit in the hole. Bakura just snorted. "You'd be surprised the places I can get into," was all he said about that.

The two of them climbed through one at a time and found themselves in an inner courtyard leading to a gardens area. Guards were patrolling in the gardens, but Bakura wasn't worried about them overhearing him.

Wringing water out of his clothes as best as he could, and noting with annoyance that some magic trait in Link's tunic had prevented him from getting nearly so wet, Bakura began to review the situation.

"Okay, there's a door over there, probably leading out of the gardens area and into the main castle. It's probably locked, though, and anyway, we don't need to go in there."

"Why not?" Link asked with a frown. "Isn't that where the princess will be?"

"Consider this. Why would there be so many guards in a garden if there were nothing to guard? My guess is that there is somebody important in here, further along. Perhaps a princess is enough to warrant this much guard, and even if it is a lesser noble, they can tell us where to find the princess." Bakura explained.

Link made a small oh noise.

"Now come on. This is indoors, so it'll be harder to avoid the guards," he cautioned.

He hadn't needed to, though. The guards here were as dense, or more, than the ones outside. They were able to make their way quickly through the various scattered gardens, making use of the hedges and statues to hide their presence.

They hardly needed to sneak, either. One guard, who was patrolling a square-ish garden with overhanging greenery, didn't notice when the rupees of various colors laid blatantly along the path disappeared. In fact, even when Link's cucco egg abruptly hatched with a loud rooster call while they were sneaking right behind a guard, he only looked around boredly in front of him and the two intruders went on, laughing.

Now they found themselves in a large courtyard complete with flowers, a small moat along the edge, and a raised platform on the end. Standing on this with her back to them, peering into a window, was a young girl, about Link's age, wearing a fancy dress.

Link took a step forward. "That's her!" he whispered. He hurried towards her. Bakura hung back, watching boredly. He'd let Link handle the social interaction for now, and if he ended up being required to talk, he'd make Ryou do it.

The smaller boy came within a few feet of the girl and stopped, hesitating. She sensed someone's presence and turned her head, spinning slowly to face him with a gasp.

"W-who are you? How did you get past the guards?" She asked in a rush. Then she looked him over, noting the green clothes and his fairy with wide eyes. "You seem somehow familiar... Are... are you from the forest?"

Link nodded dumbly.

"Then... you wouldn't happen to have a green gem, would you?" She looked at him expectantly.

Link just stared at her. "I... Well, yeah, actually. But how did you...?"

The two of them were interrupted by muffled cursing from behind Link, followed by an explosion. Both whirled to look at where Bakura was sitting, looking surprised, having just scampered out of the way of something. A short distance away from him was a small, lightly smoking patch of ground where the grass looked slightly burnt.

Bakura noticed them staring and began to rant. "Who the heck throws bombs at kids!?" he demanded, fuming and climbing to his feet, brushing non-existent dust off his shirt.

Unexpectedly, the girl giggled. "You threw something at the window, didn't you?"

The thief looked flustered. "Well, I..." he glared defensively. "I didn't even break anything or hit anyone, and that guard decides to throw explosives at me, and-"

She cut off his excuses by giggling again. "The other kids around the castle, you know, the children of the nobles who come by and the servants' kids, we have this game where we see who can tick off the guard without getting hit. When he gets mad, he tries to scare us off by throwing bombs at as. They're not really dangerous, they only hurt a little, so it makes a fun game."

Bakura just stared in slight disbelief. "Not dangerous...? It burnt the grass!" But even as he said this, he realized that once the smoke cleared away the grass appeared mostly unharmed. He stared at it a moment as the girl laughed again, then he scowled. Muttering under his breath about the crazy world they had ended up in, he forced Ryou back into control, heading to his soul room to sulk.

The girl watched the expression on the white-haired boy's face change from one of deep annoyance to one of apology. He began trying to stammer out some sort of explanation for his behavior, but she shook her head, seeming to stare through him. "You know... you look familiar too..."

Ryou blinked at her. "Pardon?"

She took a deep breath and launched into an explanation. "You see, for the past few nights, I've been having the same exact dream. In it, dark clouds begin to cover the land of Hyrule. Just when it seems they will envelope it, a bright light shoots out of the forest and begins to drive the clouds away. A second light falls down from the sky and joins the first, making it so that the clouds can never return. The two lights form into two boys, the one from the forest holding a green stone, and followed by a fairy, and the one from the sky with white hair and wielding the Triforce!"

Link stared. "And you think we're the ones from your dream?"

"Exactly!" She frowned. "Nobody but Impa, my attendant, believes me when I tell them this."

"I believe you." Link said, suddenly thinking of something. "I've been having odd dreams lately too. I keep dreaming I'm standing outside Hyrule Castle Town at night, the drawbridge suddenly comes down and a white horse runs by with a young girl and an older woman on it. Just as they're out of sight, a black horse comes up, with an evil looking man on it. And the oddest bit is, I'd never seen Hyrule Castle Town before today, and the girl who was on the horse was... you..." he trailed off, looking embarrassed.

She grinned suddenly. "So we've been having dreams about each other, though we'd never met before. That's got to mean the dreams are true!"

Now the two of them looked expectantly at Ryou, who shifted uncomfortably, and then sighed, telling them a little about his own odd dream. "I had a dream last night that I was talking to three goddesses, who told me that if I didn't help the hero put the pieces together, the world would fall to pieces. When I woke up this morning, I'd been transported to Hyrule somehow, so I assume I have to help him with whatever he's doing before I can go home."

The girl looked thrilled. "That's like in my dream! You and he... um..." She cut herself off, looking horrified all of a sudden. "Oh, no, I just realized. I've been getting ahead of myself. We don't even know each other's names! How rude of me!"

"I'm Link. I'm from Kokiri Forest." Link said, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"I'm Ryou Bakura." Ryou said. "But just call me Ryou."

She nodded at both of them. "Your names seem as familiar to me as your faces do, though we've never met... You've probably heard my name before, though. I'm Princess Zelda."

"I thought so." Ryou nodded with a polite smile.

She smiled back, then turned back to more important matters. "By the way, I was peeking into this window just before you came in... And there's something I think you should know. I know that you two represent the two lights in my dream, one from the forest, and one from the sky..." She paused a moment, giving Ryou an odd look. "Which, I'm not quite sure what that means, exactly..."

"We're not sure..." Ryou said slowly. "But we suspect that I was transported across worlds. I'm originally from a place called Japan, but nobody knows about it here, so..."

Zelda nodded. "Just so. But anyway, so that leaves only one thing in my dream that hasn't been interpreted yet: The dark clouds. But I'm pretty sure I know what it is. Or rather, who; It's that man in there!"

Link stepped forward, peering over her shoulder at the window. She moved off to the side to give him a better look. Ryou came up behind him and looked in over the top of his head, being taller.

Inside, a dark-skinned man with narrowed red eyes, black clothing and a black cape both trimmed with red and gold colors and deep red jewels, was kneeling on a blue carpet, talking with someone who was out of their viewing range.

Ryou frowned. "Yep, he looks like your typical villain."

"He's the evil-looking man from my dream," Link noted darkly. "The one who was chasing you."

Princess Zelda nodded firmly. "Yes, but my father won't listen to me. That man is called Ganondorf. He's the King of the Geradu, and he's completely power-hungry. He swears allegiance to my father, but I don't trust him at all, especially since he's been trying to get on my father's good side for the past few weeks. He's after something, and I think I know what: The Triforce."

Seeming to notice being ogled at, the man turned his head, spotting them. The two of them pulled away from the window quickly, getting out of his sight.

Zelda looked worried. "Did he see you?" At their nod, she bit her lip. "He doesn't know what we're planning."

"What are we planning, Princess?" Ryou asked. "And, if you don't mind, could you tell me more about this Triforce? I've heard it mentioned before, but I really don't know anything about it."

The princess nodded. "The Triforce. When the three goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore, created this land, they left the land, and a magical artifact was created. This artifact was three triangles, symbolizing Power, Wisdom, and Courage, or Din, Nayru, and Farore, placed in the shape of a larger triangle. It has become the symbol of the Royal Family." She pointed upward, to where the three sacred triangles were engraved in the stone archway above them, along with large wings on either side.

Ryou nodded, letting her continue.

"The Triforce is a very powerful item. Anyone who touches it is granted their heart's desire. However, there is a condition. If the one who touches it is pure in heart, they're fine, 'cause their heart's desire will be a thing for good. But if the one who touches it is evil, the Triforce will shatter into its three separate triangles. The triangle that fits that person's personality the best, usually Power, stays with them, and the other two go to the two people in the land who fit the other two descriptions."

"Couldn't the evil guy just go and find the other two pieces then?" Link asked. "What happens then?"

Zelda shook her head. "For one thing, he wouldn't be able to tell who it was that had the other two pieces. They'll hide themselves from people, except when shown by the one who has it. Even those people who have the Triforce pieces might not know they have them."

"Well, that's good, then. Nothing to worry about. Bad people can't use the Triforce." Ryou shrugged.

"Not so. It still grants their original wish. And the individual Triforce pieces are still powerful in and of themselves. This just gives those whom the other pieces go to a way to fight back." Zelda sighed. "Unfortunately, they would be the only ones who could fight back, and if they didn't try to fight, or if they were killed..." she trailed off.

Link asked, "But wouldn't the Triforce piece just pass on to the next person who fit the description?"

"No. It would hang in limbo, waiting to be rejoined to the other pieces. That means that if the Triforce holder was killed by another holder, they would get that other piece..." Zelda looked grim.

There was silence for a while, during which Bakura interjected a comment. '_She sounds like she's retelling a ghost story over a campfire. She's obviously heard this enough that she has the details memorized, so I think it's safe to say that what she knows is legit, and not a wild goose chase._'

Ryou shrugged. "Okay. So the Triforce is extremely powerful, and we suspect that Ganondorf is after it. I presume that the Triforce is in a safe place right now, and even if it weren't, what are a bunch of kids going to be able to do to stop him anyway?"

Now Zelda smiled, obviously having been waiting for somebody to ask this question. "I have just the thing. What if we were to get the Triforce before he did? Then it would be ours, and he would be unable to take it from us."

Link grinned. "And we'd all get our wishes granted!"

A feeling of satisfaction came to Ryou at that. "Yeah... That'd be awesome... So how do we get the Triforce? Where's it at?"

"Well, okay, so when the Triforce was left here, the place where it rested came to be known as the Sacred Realm. It actually is a separate realm from ours, but at the point where the Triforce rests, there is a gateway to the Sacred Realm. So the Royal Family built a temple around the gateway, which is now known as the Temple of Time, and surrounded the whole thing with intricate magic spells to keep people out of the inner area. There are five keys to unlocking these spells. Link, can I see the green stone you have?"

The boy blinked at her, but did as he was told, holding it up. "The Great Deku Tree called it the Kokiri Emerald. He said it was powerful, and that the man from the desert wanted it really badly, but he didn't really say what it was for."

She nodded. "It's one of the keys. Just as I thought, this is one of three Spiritual Stones. Fire, Water, and Forest, matching the colors and elements of the three goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore. The Great Deku Tree, in Kokiri Forest, was given the spiritual stone of forest, the leader of the Gorons has the spiritual stone of fire and the spiritual stone of water was given to the royal family of the Zora people."

Link grinned, putting the stone back in his pouch. "So we already have one of the five keys!"

"Actually, we already have three of them. Besides the spiritual stones, two keys have been passed down by the Royal Family of Hyrule: The Ocarina of Time, and the Song of Time. Once all three stones are gathered at the temple, the song of time is played by the ocarina of time, and then the door to the sacred realm will open."

"So we just have to go get the other two spiritual stones!" Link said excitedly.

Ryou nodded. "All right! But... How do we convince people that we're not just a bunch of kids fooling around, though? I mean, the guard at the gate here wouldn't even let us in to see you, we had to sneak in..."

"Here." Zelda took out a sheet of paper from somewhere and began to write. "I'll write a letter. I'm the Princess. My dad may not have to listen to me, but everyone else does." She signed it with a flourish and handed it to Link, who was standing closest to her at that moment. "You should get going right away if you're going to get those stones before he does."

Link and Ryou looked at each other, then nodded. "All right. We'll be back with those stones!" Link said confidently.

"How can we contact you again when we have them?" Ryou asked.

Zelda shrugged. "Probably just talk to the guard at the front gate. Even if he doesn't let you in, for whatever reason, he'll probably come to tell me. At that point, I'll come back here, so that you can just come over here in whatever way you got here today."

Ryou groaned a little. "So we have to break in again."

"It's not that bad, Ry." Link said. "We got in here before, we can do it again. Besides, you're good at sneaking around."

"Only part of the time," Ryou said, wincing a little.

Link watched him for a moment, then shrugged. "All right. So is that all? Should we head out now?"

Zelda nodded. "Go talk to my attendant, Impa, and she'll take you out of the castle."

The two of them nodded, then they went over to where a woman was standing by the entrance to the garden. Obviously, she had been somewhere in the garden the whole time, keeping the princess out of trouble, but they hadn't noticed her before.

As they approached, Impa looked them over, as if calculating how well they would be able to do on this quest. She nodded quiet approval. "There will be some who will not heed the Princess' letter," she remarked simply. "She is only ten, after all."

Ryou nodded, frowning slightly. "Actually, I'm surprised that you're helping us," he admitted. "Most of the time, adults just kind of ignore children."

Impa frowned deeply. "It is the duty of the Sheikah people to guard the Royal Family, even when those in the family cannot see the danger they are in. We have been trained to sense evil intentions, so it doesn't matter to me that only the little princess can sense it as well. What does matter is that I take action to assist her in balking the evil."

Ryou smiled. "Thank you. The world needs more people like you."

Impa looked vaguely flustered, then frowned again. "At any rate, you need the people of Hyrule to believe you when you say you are on a quest for the Princess. A certain melody exists that only messengers of the Royal Family are allowed to learn. This song will prove your connection to the Princess. I have played this song for her as a lullaby since she was a baby."

Link fumbled in his pack for a moment and pulled out a brown, clay ocarina. "This will help. It's got a charm on it to help me remember the fingerings to songs I learn."

Impa nodded again. "That will work. Very interesting that you chose an instrument so similar to the one that will open the Door of Time in the temple."

The boy turned a little pink and mumbled something about a gift. Impa ignored this and turned to Ryou. "Have you something to play with?"

Now Ryou blushed. "No, not really. I can whistle, but not very loud or anything..."

Impa held a hand out to Link. "Very well then. Your ocarina will have to work. May I borrow it for a moment?"

Link hesitated a moment, then handed it over. Impa held it out in front of her, closing her eyes. The ocarina began to glow, and she slowly held her other, empty hand out beside it. The glow extended from the ocarina to her other hand. When the light faded, she held an identical ocarina in each hand. She handed Link's back to him and gave the other to Ryou, who stared at it.

"Sheikah magic." Link muttered to him. Ryou nodded dumbly.

"Now, follow after me," Impa said, speaking as though nothing significant had just happened. She brought her hand to her mouth and used it as a whistle, moving her fingers to vary the sound as she blew. She played a short melody, paused, and then played it a second time before nodding to Link.

Link did as he was told and played. He copied the tune perfectly. Now it was Ryou's turn.

"But I don't even know how to play an ocarina," he said nervously.

Impa nodded. "The ocarina itself will show you how to play. It's part of its charm."

Bakura, slightly surprised, mentally confirmed the presence of the magic on the item. Ryou had no choice but to try to play it. He brought the instrument to his lips.

Instantly, it was as though the correct fingerings to the song he had just heard were displayed transparently over his vision. Surprised, he closed his eyes, which brought the notes more clearly into focus. Then he blew into the ocarina, moving his fingers to match the notes the ocarina was showing him.

Opening his eyes again, he found Impa nodding her approval. "When you think of the song again, the ocarina will show you how to play it again. This way, as long as you remember the name of the song, in this case, Zelda's Lullaby, you will never forget it."

Ryou looked down at the ocarina, which was sparkling gently. Link put his own ocarina away into his pouch. Ryou frowned. "Can you do that duplicating thing on Link's pouch?" he inquired of Impa. "I don't have one."

Impa looked at Link, who shrugged. He took the pouch off his belt and began removing things from it, so that only the pouch would be doubled. Ryou's eyes widened at the growing pile of things littering the ground.

"Is it bottomless...?" he asked finally.

Link shrugged again. "Pretty much. There, that's all of it." He handed the pouch to Impa, who repeated her spell.

After Link's pouch had been returned to him, and Ryou's new one given to him, Impa turned around. "Now, follow me. I'll lead you out of the castle. That way you won't have any problems with the guards."

"Oh, good." Link rolled his eyes. "We wouldn't want to get caught by them, now would we?"

Ryou hid a grin, but said nothing. Impa led the way through the castle proper, and soon they had reached the drawbridge to the castle and were heading down the path towards the gate.

'_I wonder if we should tell Impa how horrible the guards are._' Ryou worried.

Bakura scoffed. '_A couple of kids just broke in. I think she knows. Besides, if they raise security, we won't be able to get back in next time._'

Ryou sighed. '_Fine, I suppose you're right. So, what do you think of this whole Triforce thing? Are you going to help us too?_'

'_Any plan that involves me getting hold of a powerful magical artifact sounds good to me._' Bakura returned with a smirk. Ryou decided not to comment, since he had just been thinking something similar.

Once they reached the gate, Impa surprised them by continuing down the path towards Hyrule Castle Town, not bothering to check behind her to see if the two boys were still following her. They glanced at each other, but did follow.

She led them through the town square and out the main gate, stopping only just after crossing the drawbridge that led out into Hyrule Field. She turned to the two boys.

"Now," she began. "Look to the west. There you can see Death Mountain. It is an active volcano, but it has lain dormant for centuries. There in the caves of Death Mountain is where the Gorons make their home."

Link and Ryou looked past her and saw the mountain, a grey ring surrounding its peak. Ryou nodded.

"My home town, the village of the Sheikahs, lies at its base. It is called Kakariko. I would suggest you stock up on supplies either there or here at Hyrule Castle Town before going to meet the Gorons. Their leader, Darunia, holds the spiritual stone of fire."

Then she pointed out the river that ran past the entrance to Kakariko village. "While one of you visits the Gorons, the other should head to Zora's Domain, where the Zoras live. You can get there by following this river as far upstream as you can go. A huge waterfall marks the entrance. Once inside, talk to the Zora king. He should have the spiritual stone of water."

The two boys nodded. "So who should go where?" Ryou asked.

Impa looked out across Hyrule field, contemplating. "The path to Zora's Domain is currently blocked by several large boulders. I suspect you know who did that. The only way past would be to bomb your way through. Link is too young for the shops to sell bombs to, and he would have to be instructed in their use, which would take time. The Gorons themselves can teach him this later, as their main trade is bombs. You, however, obviously already know how to use them, seeing as you have a few bombchu with you."

Ryou nodded. "All right. So Link will go to Death Mountain, and I'll head to Zora's Domain."

'_Why do I have a sense of immanent doom at the thought of that?_' he wondered to himself.

Bakura shrugged. '_You worry too much._'

"Then you are set. Good luck, young heroes." Impa took a step backward away from them, raised a hand, and threw something on the ground, which erupted in a bright flash. When the light cleared, Impa was gone.

"More Sheikah magic," Link grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Ryou took a deep breath. "Okay, so, time to stock up. I dunno what you'll need, but I'm going to need a sword, a shield, and some bombs." He shook his head. "And you know, I never in my life thought I'd say something like that." He heard Bakura laugh in the back of his head.

"Why? I thought you battled with people back where you came from." Link blinked at him.

"Er, well. You're not going to believe this, probably, but when we battled, we used magic card games, not actual physical fighting..." Ryou laughed a little.

Link grinned, shaking his head. "That's crazy. Whatever, come on. Let's go get you some stuff. No idea how much it'll cost. I got all my stuff from Kokiri Forest."

They turned and headed back into Hyrule Castle Town.

"You know, speaking of Kokiri..." Ryou looked at Link as they walked. "I'd forgotten till now, but that guard said something about the Kokiri being unable to leave the forest...?"

Link nodded. "All of the Kokiri have been taught that people from outside the forest can't come into the forest without getting lost or something like that, and that for a Kokiri to leave the forest meant certain death... But nobody ever knows for certain why."

"The guard said something about the magic of the Deku Tree. Maybe that's why?"

Link shrugged. "Something like that. To tell the truth, even though the Great Deku Tree sent me on a quest outside the forest, I kind of half expected..." he couldn't finish.

Ryou looked at him sideways. "You mean, you thought that leaving the forest would kill you, and you came here anyway? You're a lot braver that I would be..."

Link ducked his head in slight embarrassment. "I was just doing what I was told."

Navi spoke up suddenly for the first time in a while, peeking out from under Link's hat. "Link has always been different from the other Kokiri," she noted. "And that's not always a bad thing."

Ryou nodded with a smile. Link didn't answer, but it turned out that he didn't need to, as they had reached the bomb shop. Link and Ryou went inside and Navi went to go check out the shopkeeper, who peered up at her with a raised eyebrow. Ryou bought enough bombs to fill his bag, which he then placed in his new bottomless pouch.

Next they went to the shop where Ryou had bought the strange heart. The shopkeeper recognized him from before and, knowing that he was likely back to buy more stuff, happily showed him the Hylian shields he had in stock. Link decided that in an active volcano, a wooden shield would be a bad thing, so the two of them both bought one.

Link strapped the shield to his back, frowning at it. "But I'd better keep my original shield as well," he commented. "This one is actually a little too big for me."

Ryou hid a grin, nodding. The shield effectively covered Link's back, from the nape of his neck all the way down to about mid-calf. Ryou himself was big enough to use the shield properly, but Link would have to simply duck and hope whatever was aiming for him would hit the shield on his back.

None of the shops carried weapons, so Ryou finally relented and let Bakura collect enough rupees for one of the long Geradu swords that were available in the bazaar.

The Geradu, it turned out, usually used mainly pole arms and scimitars themselves, but made plenty of other kinds of weapons, and Bakura confirmed that their skills had produced a good, balanced sword. Ryou, of course, couldn't tell, having never handled a sword before, so he just took Bakura's word for it.

Finally, the two of them went back to the drawbridge leading to Hyrule Field.

Link and Ryou looked at each other. "I... guess this is where we part, for now." Link said slowly.

Ryou nodded. "I guess so... Unless... I dunno, unless we have somewhere else we need to go before we head out on our individual journeys?"

"Um..."

Navi rolled her eyes at them, realizing that they were searching for an excuse to stick together for a while longer. Neither of them really felt comfortable going off on their own just yet. "Why don't you go and see Saria, Link? She's probably worried about you. I wonder what she'd say if we told her we had to save the world."

Link grinned. "She'd probably laugh. But yeah, that's a great idea."

"Who's Saria?" Ryou asked.

"One of the other Kokiri," Navi told him.

Link sighed now. "Yeah, one of my only friends, thanks to Mido. She's the one who gave me my ocarina."

Ryou smiled. "I guess that, since all the Kokiri are created by the Deku Tree, you and the other Kokiri would be kind of like siblings? So Saria is kind of like a protective older sister to you then, huh?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, kinda. So, how about we go and visit Saria together? I bet she'd like to meet you."

"Sounds good to me."

"Yay!" Link began to skip off. "Come on, this way!"

Navi sighed, following him. Ryou laughed and ran after the two of them.

The day went by quickly as the two of them talked with each other, exchanging more of their personal histories. It was just getting towards evening again when Ryou realized just how long he had been awake that day.

He pointed it out to Link, "You know, I just noticed... I've been awake for way over 24 hours now, and yet I'm not tired. That's never happened before..."

Navi jingled impatiently. "Well, the mission's kind of important, so we don't need to be wasting time sleeping!"

Link smirked. "Fairy magic. As long as we aren't really injured or separated from Navi, we won't need to sleep. You'll probably get tired once you go out on your own towards the Zora place."

"That's... odd..." Ryou blinked. "Useful, but odd."

"Most magic usually is." Link said.

Ryou nodded. "I suppose. I guess I'm just not used to seeing magic on a regular day-to-day business. Most of the people where I come from don't believe in magic."

"Not believing in magic here would be like saying, 'I don't believe in gravity', you know?" Link laughed. Ryou smiled as well and the conversation gradually turned to wondering to each other some of the specifics of their mission.

"But the thing I'm most confused about is something the Princess said about her dream," Link said suddenly. Ryou looked at him curiously and he continued. "She said that the boy from the sky wielded the Triforce... What is that supposed to mean?"

Ryou looked up at the now darkening sky, remembering that in his own dream, the goddesses had told him the same thing. "I don't know," he admitted. "I honestly don't know..."

They crested a hill and Link pointed out a gap in the cliff wall surrounded by trees, which he said led to the entrance to Kokiri Forest. Night was beginning to fall, and they reached the first of the scattered trees just as the moon began to rise.

Abruptly, from behind, there came a terrible sound, like something being ripped apart. The two boys both whirled around and Ryou's eyes widened as he spotted what had made the sound. Two small skeletons with grossly misshapen heads were pulling themselves out of the ground, red lights in their hollow eye sockets staring at them with a haunting fury.

Link cried out wordlessly, pulling his sword out quickly. Ryou fumbled with his own, yanking it from it's sheath with his eyes still locked on the skeletons, who were now all the way out of the ground and making their way toward the two boys.

"What are they?" Ryou yelled, backing up as they approached.

"Stalchilds," Link called back with a grimace. "I forgot about these guys. Let's take em down!" He lunged for the first of the two skeletons, swinging his sword downward and cleaving the skull in two, which sent its other bones flying.

Ryou noted Bakura mentally watching him and felt a little more confident. Bakura was ready to take over at a moment's notice, not willing to let his host body get hurt, but it seemed he wanted Ryou to take care of this himself.

He steeled his nerves and swung his sword horizontally at the second skeleton and it connected solidly with the thing's neck, slicing right through it. The head fell to the ground, but the body kept coming after him, raising its arm to swipe at him blindly with a three-clawed hand.

He cried out in disgust, nearly flinging the sword at the creature as he swung a second time. The whole thing collapsed and the bones disintegrated a moment later with a short burst of flame.

Now there was silence except for their heavy breathing. "Are they gone? What are they?" Ryou looked at Link, who hadn't yet lowered his sword.

"Don't put your sword away yet, Ry," he cautioned. "They're Stalchilds."

"You said that, but... I'm sorry, but I've never heard of anything like that being called a child!"

Navi fluttered towards him. "Stalchilds. I'm not entirely sure what they are, really, but they're mostly ghosts, not all real. They haunt travelers in Hyrule Field at night, but they can't stand the day, or overly crowded areas."

Link frowned. "I faced them before, coming to Hyrule Castle Town. Once you strike them down, it doesn't take long for them to regenerate, so be on your toes. We're going to either have to stand here and fight until daylight, or press forward past them towards Kokiri Forest. They're slow and easy to outrun, but even just two at a time, they're annoying."

"Lets try and push through first, so we waste as little time as possible. We're almost there, we can make it!" Navi said. Then she jingled, "Watch out, here they come again!"

The two of them heeded her warning and took off running towards the gap in the cliff wall where the entrance to the forest was hidden.

A sound like the one they'd heard before came just to their right and the Stalchilds appeared again, their bones clacking as they stalked closer, arms outstretched towards them. They dodged left and kept running forward.

As he ran, Ryou could hear the sound of their bony feet getting further away, then the same earth-ripping sound. He glanced behind him, confused to see the skeletons disappearing downward. "They gave up!"

Link didn't stop. "They're just moving. Keep going, they'll be in front of us next!"

"In front?" Ryou stared at him as they ran. "But there's no way they can go—Aargh!" he cried out suddenly, coming to a skidding halt as the two Stalchilds tore up through the ground before them. One lifted its arm and, with an eerie laugh, sent it crashing downward toward Ryou's head.

Ryou yelled and ducked to the side, swinging his sword forward to block. The thing's hand hit his blade and separated from the rest of it, flying up and smacking its head off its shoulders. Ryou ducked around the blind, flailing body and kept running, glancing at Link in time to see Navi hovering just out of the other skeleton's reach and calling out its weaknesses. Link lunged forward again, taking the skeleton down, and ran after Ryou.

Ryou's decapitated skeleton retreated once more into the ground, and soon the two Stalchilds had regenerated once more, appearing in front of the fleeing boys again. They both came to a halt, realizing that they would have to stand and fight rather than run. The monsters regenerated too fast, and running those constant short distances would only tire them to the breaking point.

They brought their swords up to attack, wearily. Neither was used to this sort of perpetual assault, and the time seemed to stretch on as they broke the skeletons again and again.

Finally, an early pre-dawn light began to lighten up the sky, and the two boys fought with renewed strength at the promise to an end to this. Daylight was coming, and soon it would be too bright for the Stalchilds to stand. Soon they would be able to rest and go on.

"Just hold in there!" Link called, his jaw clenched with exhaustion.

Ryou ducked a clawed hand. "Right!"

They continued the battle, half of their attention on the eastern sky, which grew increasingly brighter. Finally, the first real rays of the sun began to peek over the trees and both skeletons, one currently without a head, winced sharply, drawing themselves back into the ground one last time.

Link and Ryou glanced around, swords still at the ready, for another moment or two. Then, deciding that the things finally really were gone, they collapsed to the ground, letting their swords drop to the grass beside them.

Ryou glanced down at his own sword, which now had a thin purple sheen covering the edges of the blade. In a sudden sheer mental exhaustion that had nothing to do with Navi's spell, he felt himself blacking out.

He didn't even fall forward all the way before Bakura had taken over and caught him, shaking his head softly to clear it.

"You okay, Ryou?" Link asked, glancing at him.

Bakura nodded tersely, mentally checking his hikari. Ryou seemed to be fine, he had just never had to attack anything with real weaponry before and wasn't used to it. He sighed and looked over at Link. "Are there any sort of training grounds at Kokiri forest where I can get better at this?" he asked suddenly.

Link blinked at him, feeling slightly miffed that his friend hadn't asked him how he was doing. "Er, well, yeah, sorta."

"Good." Bakura got to his feet, grabbing the sword, wiping it off on the grass and sheathing it. "Let's go."

Reluctantly, Link got to his feet as well, wondering at his friend for a moment before shrugging and attributing it to his exhaustion.

Together, the two of them headed slowly towards Kokiri Forest.

(Divider)

Daricio: blah blah blah blah blah blah... and so on and so forth.

Malik: ... (smacks forehead)

Daricio: Okay, so I started and ended this chapter with Bakura. Woo, yay for the evil tomb robber. Let's see... Ryou and Bakura's shiny new sword, along with the fact that the Geradu make other weapons, is completely made up by me. Don't ask me what kind of sword it is, I know nothing of swords or how to use a sword. Any tips anyone might have on improving my horrid battle scenes would be appreciated.

Malik: I don't think anything could improve your horrid battle scenes.

Daricio: u.u Meanie.

Malik: I'm not being mean, I'm stating fact.

Daricio: Hmph. Unfortunately, you're probably right. Anyway, much thanks to DVD for being my kinda sorta beta reader, and thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed. (hint hint). If you liked the story, tell other people about it and review yourself of course! Hope you enjoyed reading! Come on, muses, wave goodbye to the reviewers!

Malik: (rolls eyes, waves) This is ridiculous.

Kura: (sweatdrops, but waves) At least she's not spouting random quotes this time.

Radley and Kaiba: (ignore Daricio and keep doing what they had been doing)

Daricio: Meanie muses. (sulks)


	4. In Which We Meet Saria and an Owl

Daricio: Okay, first off, I must say, I'm having great fun writing the first bit of this chapter. I've never written a yami and hikari conversation from the point of view of a different person before, and it's amazing how crazy it looks. XD

Malik: ... uh huh...

Daricio: Anyways... Thanks muchly to anonymous reviewer Patricia Barbera for making me get off my duff and write this because of her review. o.o I honestly had no idea there was actually anybody out there besides my little brother who was waiting for me to update this thing. To answer your questions: some of it; yes; you'll see; and definitely yes, unfortunately for Ryou.

To anonymous reviewer Link lover, ... I think what I meant when I said that it was an active volcano that has lain dormant for centuries, was that it has boiling lava in it, so is active, but it hasn't actually erupted in forever...

(reading through the chapter again) ... and ignore how out of character Bakura is, seriously. o.o I didn't mean for him to turn out sounding so... nice...

And on a random note, let u all have a moment of ilence for the death of my s key, which appear only to work if I jam it down really hard, which I don't uually do to my key. ... Oh, wait, no nevermind. I slammed on the key in frustration so hard that now it works again. Figures.

On a different random note, in the middle of this chapter, I officially caught up to the point where I was writing in my notebook. That means that from here on out, everything that's written is unscripted, so it may take a little longer to write... (Like that'll be much of a change). I mean, yeah, I've brainstormed with DVD about what to do with the story, but nothing's been written down yet...

Of course, even with that impediment, this chapter is still over ten pages long... Although some of that has to do with Kaepora Gaebora... You learn something new every day, and I have learned that I'm rather good at random rambling. XD

Anyways, to the story, with the first ever Link POV!

(Divider)

Link exited the house of the Know-It-All Brothers with a great sigh of frustration, feeling a little put out.

The other Kokiri had been, to say the least, surprised to see him back alive and well. To some though, mostly those who acknowledged Mido as their official leader, this was not taken well, though Navi's glares prevented them from actually saying much to him.

But even those who were glad to see him kept their distance; he had brought a stranger into the forest. Considering that nobody besides the Kokiri had ever been inside the forest before, as far as they knew, they were all a little uneasy around his new friend, despite Link's assurances that Ryou was, indeed, a friend.

He had to say, though, that Ryou had been acting a bit strange since the end of that battle, speaking only curtly when asked a direct question, and looking around at the curious Kokiri suspiciously, as if they would attack him. Certainly, he wasn't acting very friendly...

Ignoring his friend's new behavior, Link had quickly noticed that Saria was nowhere to be found. He had wanted to ask around to see if anybody knew where she was, but he also hadn't wanted to make Ryou or the other Kokiri any more uncomfortable than they already were, so he first took Ryou to the Kokiri training ground, as he had requested.

Now, having just confirmed that not even the Know-It-All Brothers knew where Saria was, or where she had been for some time, (besides the vague fact that she was at her "secret spot,") Link headed back that direction to tell Ryou what he had found.

What he found there surprised him, and he stopped at the edge of the training grounds rather than disturb his friend, leaning up against a fence at the far end to watch him. Navi perched on a fence post to do the same.

Ryou was practicing with his sword in the open area of the grounds. That by itself would not have been surprising, since that was what he was in the training grounds to do. What held the two of them transfixed was Ryou's sudden skill with the blade.

He was currently engaged in a battle against several pretend foes. His sword whistled around him in an almost practiced manner as his battle took him around the small clearing, ducking blows, jabbing forward, executing complicated spin attacks, and other things Link couldn't even put a name to. Ryou, he even noted with awe, even had his eyes closed through all this.

It was as if from the time Link had last seen him fight just that morning to this time, Ryou had progressed from an amateur, like Link was himself, to being an expert swordsman.

Link watched this imaginary battle for several minutes, then Ryou's movements began to slow until he finally came to a rest, his breath a bit short. A moment later, he held the sword up in front of his face, let out a long breath, and said, "You're awake."

At first, Link thought Ryou was talking to him, but then he realized that his eyes were still closed; Ryou was unaware that he was not the only one there. Who was he talking to, then? And what did he mean about being awake? He and Navi exchanged confused glances, but said nothing.

"Fine, then. Let's begin." Ryou's eyes opened and he looked suddenly surprised that he held a sword in his hands, fumbling with it for a moment before regaining his grip on the hilt.

With an uncertain look on his face, Ryou gave the sword an experimental swing or two. Then his knees bent into a fighting position and he lunged forward, bringing the sword downward as he did so and landing somewhat awkwardly.

Abruptly, he changed his grip on the hilt, shaking his head slightly. "Here, like this." He repeated the lunge, and this time the sword fairly sang through the air and he landed almost catlike on the ground. He straightened and looked down at the sword again, though he didn't really seem to be looking at it. The expression on his face was one of fierce concentration.

"Wow," Navi breathed, so softly that Link almost missed it.

Ryou relaxed again, nodded slowly, and hefted the sword upward again. He took a deep breath, released it, then he slashing with the sword forward and down as he jumped a third time. It was better than the first, Link decided, but not nearly as good as the second. Ryou seemed to agree, for he smiled slightly and said, "Better... but not quite there. Don't close your eyes when you swing the sword."

Link was debating stepping out and announcing his presence so that this rather strange behavior would stop, but decided against it when Ryou suddenly answered his own comment, looking upwards at the peaks of the trees as he spoke.

"I told you, I really am trying at this... but it's difficult, especially since I've never wielded a sword before." He gave a sigh, then continued. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for fighting."

Then he scoffed, sheathing the sword and folding his arms. "You need more practice, yes, but you are not a failure. And believe me, with all the monsters that appear to be in this world, you'll get plenty of practice eventually. For now, you just need to get down the basics, same as Link."

The green-clad boy blinked in surprise at hearing his name and glanced at Navi again with his eyebrows raised, but kept silent as Ryou shook his head in exasperation. "It's different with Link. He grew up in this place; he's used to the idea of swords and stuff like that. I've had no experience with swords at all; I've never really even watched movies with sword fighting in it before."

Link wondered what a movies was, but had no chance to think more on that, as the conversation went on.

"And despite that, you are learning, even if your lack of self confidence won't let you admit it. Link may currently have more experience, but his skills are not much higher than your own. The two of you would do well to practice together, actually, so that you can learn from each other as well." Ryou sighed, seeming to ponder this.

Link decided that now was a good enough time to let Ryou know he was standing there, if only to make this seeming madness stop. "That sounds like a good idea to me," he called, leaning his chin on his hands where they were resting on the fence post.

Ryou whirled on him, his eyes wide. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, and then Ryou seemed to deflate a little. "...How long have you been standing there?" he asked, a little lamely.

"Long enough," Navi said flatly.

Link gazed back at Ryou curiously. "It didn't take me that long to ask around about Saria, and then I came right back here and... well..."

"Ask what about Saria?" Ryou wondered, a confused expression on his face.

Link stared. "When we got here, we couldn't find her, remember? So I went to ask where she was."

Ryou looked sheepish. "Oh. Right."

The two of them stood in silence for a very long moment, trying to figure out what to say to each other. Finally, Ryou broke the silence again, looking down at the ground. "I don't always talk to myself," he said with a sigh, reluctantly addressing the subject that was on both their minds.

"Uh huh." Link looked skeptical.

"No, honest, I..."

Link shook his head. "Ryou, that wasn't just talking to yourself, you were actually responding, as if there was another person there. And those sword moves! One moment you're only as good as I am, the next it's like you're this, this, expert swordsman! It's like there were two of you in one body!"

"Very good," A familiar voice came from behind Link and he whirled around in surprise to find a second Ryou standing there, arms folded and an amused smirk on his face. "What do you know, Ryou? He's not a complete idiot after all."

"Who... what..." Link's eyes were wide as he took a few steps to the side and glanced from one Ryou to the other. Even Navi was taken off guard by this arrival, which had to mean that this new Ryou hadn't been there a moment ago. He had simply appeared there out of nowhere.

The Ryou that Link had originally been talking to looked curiously over at the newly appeared Ryou, his expression holding no surprise at his appearance. "Bakura, I thought that you didn't want anyone to know you were here."

The other Ryou, who was obviously called Bakura, simply shrugged. "Link overheard us, and he put two and two together. At this point we either tell him the truth, let him think you're crazy, or wipe his memories, and that's not always very reliable."

Link took a few more steps back from Bakura, still looking from one to the other. "There really _are_ two of you?" he gasped out at last, finally finding his tongue. "But, but how?"

Ryou and Bakura glanced at each other, then Ryou nodded and smiled at Link, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Well, you see, Bakura here is actually the spirit of a five thousand year old tomb raider... He can use magic to become as solid as he needs to be, but most of the time he just resides in my mind and talks to me using our mind link. Sometimes he also takes control of my body for me."

Link's head was reeling with this new information. "Five thousand... like your Millennium Item story?" Suddenly, something dawned on him. "Hey, what you said before... 'I'm only good at it sometimes.' So he was the one who helped me break into the castle! And all morning, that's been him, and not you! That's why you seemed so different then."

"He's not as stupid as he looks." Bakura smirked. "Yes, yes, and yes again. I am known as Bakura, a thief and a stealer of souls."

At Link's shocked look and Navi's flash of yellow at this, Bakura laughed. "You need not fear me. I have a duty to protect my yadonushi, my landlord, and part of that is protecting his guardians and friends. You, for instance."

"He knows of our plan to get to the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and he agrees with it," Ryou added. "He's going to help us, and the first thing he wanted to do was to teach me some basic sword moves. But so far I'm not much good at it." He scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment, but kept his eyes on Link, waiting for his reaction to all this with slight anticipation.

Link looked from Ryou to Bakura, and then back again, deep in thought. From the way Ryou was looking at him, Link guessed that he had lost several friends before when Bakura appeared, and he was hoping that Link would still trust him despite the fact that he was possessed by some spirit.

Well, then, he'd just have to show Ryou that he didn't give up on his friends so easily. Slowly, Link grinned. "So does this mean that you're going to teach both of us some of those awesome sword tricks you were doing, Bakura?"

Navi gave him a disapproving look, but the relieved smile that broke out on Ryou's face was worth anything Navi had to say about it. Bakura simply smirked again. "That depends; are you good enough at the basics to move on to more complicated sword maneuvers?"

Link unsheathed his sword with a grin on his face. "Let's find out!" he called in challenge. Bakura unsheathed his own sword with a nod of approval. Ryou stepped back, so as not to be involved in this test of skills, but Bakura waved him forward again.

"We should all be able to know one another's strengths and weaknesses, so that we can fill in where one falls short. We practice together." Bakura instructed.

Ryou frowned. "I don't see why I need to fight at all. Not only am I horrible at it, but I don't like fighting. Besides, any time I'm in danger, you can take over and handle it, right?"

Bakura scoffed. "Where did you get that idea in your head? First off, this is your quest, not mine. You're the one who had the dream and not me, which is strange in and of itself, due to the fact that I usually dream the same dreams you do. For another thing, I've been trying to teach you to defend yourself for some time now. I'm not going to take over every little time there's danger of you getting hurt."

"Besides," Link added, "You did just fine with those Stalchilds." He paused, then frowned in thought. "Er, that was you, right?"

Ryou laughed, nodding. "Yes, yes, but still... That was mostly just panic. It's one thing to stand here and swing a sword, but with things that seriously want to kill you, and aren't going to cut you any slack..."

"And through all that, you stand here without a scratch on you." Bakura observed dryly. "I didn't take over then because I knew you could handle yourself. You need more practice and more self-confidence, but complaining about it isn't getting you anywhere. Now, Link, show me that forward lunge I was practicing with Ryou."

Link, surprised to be addressed again so suddenly, lifted his sword. "I can try."

(Divider)

After a while of being taught individual moves, Ryou and Link were made to fight each other, using heavy sticks instead of the swords to prevent damage. Meanwhile, Bakura corrected their moves from the side, sometimes stepping in (often literally) and demonstrating different attacks and blocks.

Now that Link had been shown that there were, indeed, two of them, he quickly learned how to tell the two of them apart. They each had very distinctive mannerisms, different fighting styles, and there were even physical differences; something about their eyes, and a slight change in the hair. Though there were a few times that he still ended up calling Ryou 'Bakura' and Bakura 'Ryou', he knew that eventually he'd be able to get the hang of having two companions instead of one.

He wasn't sure what Navi's thoughts on the whole thing were yet, though. He'd have to ask her later when Ryou and Bakura weren't around. She hadn't been saying much during the mock battle, simply sitting on one of the fence posts and watching then train.

A good hour or so later, they were still going at their fight, Link and Ryou battling hard against each other and hoping that Bakura would soon decide to let them rest for a while.

"So, what did you find out about Saria?" Ryou asked as he brought his stick up to block an incoming attack.

"Don't forget to use your shield, Ryou! There'll be less damage to the blade that way!" Bakura called. Then, he turned his attention to Link. "Yes, where's she at?"

Link, hoping to catch Ryou off guard from the talking, attacked again. Ryou used his shield this time, knocking Link's stick out of the way and swinging his own at the same time, aiming for Link's legs.

Surprised, Link leapt over the stick, narrowly missing receiving a good sized bruise on his left leg. "I heard that she's in her secret spot," he answered after a moment. "She's mentioned it to me on occasion, but I've never been there before. The only thing I know about it is that it's located somewhere in the Lost Woods." He swung at Ryou again but was blocked. He then had to act quickly to block his return blow.

Bakura frowned, crossing his arms. "Let me guess," he said somewhat sarcastically. "You get _lost_ in the Lost Woods."

"Right. People don't usually go in there," Link said, missing both the sarcasm and Ryou's arm as he swung again.

"Make sure you keep your footing firm when you swing, Link," Bakura warned.

Ryou jumped forward and swung, but his stick was knocked out of the way. He would have received a hard knock on the head had Bakura not blocked Link's stick with one of his own and called the fight to a stop so that they could talk properly.

"We're still going to look for her, though, right?" Ryou inquired, sitting on the grass and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. "We wouldn't want to have come all this way and then turn back without seeing her..."

Link nodded slowly. "I suppose so..."

Bakura shrugged. "Why wouldn't we? What's so scary about the Lost Woods? If it's just a maze, I can get through it easily."

"Well, it kind of is," Link replied. "But it's no ordinary maze. The trees grow close together to form tunnels through clearings that all look almost exactly alike. There's a sort of inherent magic about the place that screws up your sense of direction. Plus, if a Kokiri goes the wrong way, they find themselves right back at the entrance to the woods. And we've been told that if a non-Kokiri goes the wrong way, they're lost forever. All the stories say that's where Stalfos come from."

Ryou and Bakura glanced at each other with slight hesitation, then Bakura just shrugged again. "But we've got you with us, so you just lead the way and the worst that'll happen is we'll end up back here again, right?"

"I guess," Link admitted. "But I've never actually ventured too far into the woods, so I dunno. They're creepy."

Bakura contemplated this for a while, then nodded to himself, making a decision. "Normally, I'd say just to forget this and move on with what actually needs to be done for this quest..."

Ryou frowned and made to protest, but Bakura cut him off. "However, something tells me that whatever Saria has to say to us will be important. We'll rest here for a while, and then we'll head to the Lost Woods."

Link smiled, flopping back on the grass and allowing himself to relax. Despite being a thief and a strict taskmaster, Bakura wasn't so bad...

(Divider)

"This is the sixteenth time we've gone through a tunnel and ended up back here again!" Bakura raved, gesturing outward towards the Kokiri village, which they could see from the entrance to the Lost Woods. "Are you sure there's even anything in there??"

Ryou noted that the light around Navi turned a warning shade of red, but Link and Bakura both ignored her.

"I'm sure." Link rolled his eyes, turning around yet again and heading back into the woods. "I just don't know how to get to it. Don't worry, though, there's not that many possibilities of where to end up, so we'll get there eventually."

Bakura growled in frustration and followed Link. "This will take forever!"

'_I wish the magic around here hadn't managed to block the Millennium Ring's power, or we'd be there already_!' he added mentally to Ryou, for some reason still not wanting to tell Link or his fairy about the existence of the Item.

Ryou sighed. "There's got to be some way to figure out which way to go without just running blindly into tunnels..."

As if in response to this comment, a strange sort of music began echoing through the Lost Woods. Fast paced and bouncy, and yet somehow mysterious. The four of them listened for a while.

"That sounds like an ocarina," Link decided. "And the only one I know besides us who has an ocarina is Saria. Come on, it's coming from this tunnel!"

Feeling better now that they had some way of making it through this place without getting totally lost, they raced through several tunnels in quick succession.

Suddenly, they came to a screeching halt in one clearing, the four of them hearing a voice cry out. Navi turned blue, indicating that somebody was approaching, and Bakura disappeared from sight as a very large, brown owl flew in from above and perched on the top of a tunnel entrance.

'_What on earth is that?_' Bakura complained.

"Hoot, Hoot! Hey, Link! Hello!" The voice, strangely enough, was coming from the owl... "Good to see you again! My, my, your skills just keep growing more and more each time I see you. And I see you've managed to meet up with Ryou, perfect, perfect!"

Ryou leaned in towards Link. "Do you... know him?"

Link had a sour look on his face as he nodded, whispering back to him. "Sort of. He's been following me around since I first left the Kokiri forest. He says his name is Kaepora Gaebora, but he hasn't told me how he knows my name or how he knows so much about the quest I'm on. He just keeps dropping worthless hints to me."

If the owl heard this comment, it chose to ignore it, craning its neck so far to the side that its head was almost completely upside down on its body.

"It's such a good thing I found you again, you know, Link. I looked for you at Hyrule Castle, but I didn't see you until you and Ryou were leaving Hyrule Castle Town, and then I lost track of you again somewhere over Hyrule Field. Such a pity, but there you go, and now I've found you again just in time for me to give you some very valuable advice, yes very valuable indeed. You know how hard it is to find such valuable information as this? I'll tell you I searched far and wide to pick up the bits of information that I now pass on to you, and it's a good thing you're so grateful for them, because I'm giving them to you whether you really want me to or not. First off, Ryou here has a certain secret that you'll have to get him to tell you before you go on. It's something dark and mysterious and regards a certain thief from 5000 years ago on the world where he originally comes from. But right now, we have to get you on the correct path towards advancing your quest, which means you need to go and talk to your childhood friend, Saria, where she now waits deep within a confusing maze of trees. That place is known as the Lost Woods. Sounding familiar yet? Yes, that's right, it is the very forest where you now stand, aimlessly wandering around. A Kokiri can easily find his way around here, but can he actually get anywhere without simply ending up back in Kokiri Forest? That is the real question. One thing you must know for sure, do not let Ryou or his secret friend go first through these tunnels, as the woods holds only darkness for those not familiar with its twists and turns, but never fear, young heroes, for if Link only but leads the way, there is a way to find what you seek. Now how does one find that secret way of making their way through the Lost Woods? The answer is simple, and yet it was a devious piece of information to come across. In fact, one must simply listen and you'll hear it! A strange melody comes from the distance, one played by your friend, perhaps, who still waits for you to return from your vast adventures in Hyrule field, not knowing whether or not you survive still, and it is your duty to let her know that although you are indeed safe from that journey, it will only become tougher as it goes on. The song that she plays as she sits waiting is a strange, mysterious song with a strange, mysterious power, and you would be wise indeed to seek to learn the song from her as it will aid you greatly on your journey. In short, to find your way through these vast woods to where your friend lies in wait for you, simply follow your ears! Hoo! Hoo!"

Then the owl flipped its head back to its upright position and looked at them very seriously. "Did you get all that? Do I need to repeat myself?"

Ryou was staring at the owl in disbelief and after a moment shook his head frantically. "No, no, that's all right, we got it."

The owl looked smug. "Good lads, you're very smart to be able to understand so much. Yes, very smart indeed, and you shall soon be able to put those smarts and your skills to the test as you head off into the grand adventure that lies before you. Indeed, it may even be said of you that you will become great heroes in this great land of Hyrule, which you are even now valiantly striving to save! Until I see you again, young heroes, farewell!"

With that, the owl took off, leaving behind a steaming Link and a bewildered Ryou.

"Find Bakura, huh? Find Saria, huh? Follow the sound of the ocarina, huh?" Link ranted. "Well, thank you, real helpful, that's _only_ what we were doing _anyway_!" He turned to Ryou and continued. "You know, he did the exact same thing to me when I first left the Kokiri Forest. The Great Deku Tree tells me, 'Go find the princess of destiny,' so I go out and there's this owl I've never heard of before telling me 'Go find the princess of destiny.' Honestly, these people must think I'm stupid or something!"

'_If I respond to that remark,_' Bakura said smugly to Ryou, '_we'll be spending the next hour trying to get him to stop trying to kill me._'

Ryou hid a laugh behind a cough, then smiled at Link. "Well, just ignore him, then. Come on, we do have to find Saria, you know."

Link calmed down a little, still feeling put out. "Yeah, yeah, all right. Saria's song is coming from this tunnel now..."

(Divider)

Following the song had led them through many twists and turns before dumping them in a huge clearing with a sort of hedge maze. Now that they were actually out of the lost woods, however, Bakura was able, discreetly, to use the Millennium Ring to point them in the right direction through it. If Link or Navi wondered how Bakura knew exactly which way to go, they didn't say so aloud.

There were random monsters here and there, but although Link and Ryou were still a little tired from their training, the monsters were dumb enough that they were easily able to take care of them.

Now they were facing a big staircase, at the base of which were the resting places of two creatures that Link had called Deku Scrubs, which the two with swords had already defeated.

Now they made their way up the stairs, Bakura disappearing back into the Ring as they did so. At the top was a clearing even larger than the one in front of the maze, and clearly more beautiful. Trees grew in all around almost surreally.

A large stone platform rested in the center, and one large tree with a thick branch overhanging what looked to be ruins of some sort almost framed exactly what they were looking for. A young girl with short green hair and green clothes sat on a tree stump, her eyes closed, playing an ocarina.

"Saria!" Link called in relief, dashing forward.

Abruptly, the music stopped and Saria's eyes flew open. Upon spotting Link, she was on her feet immediately, running towards him. "Link! You're all right!" She threw her arms around him, gave him a tight squeeze, then released him, catching hold of his hands and dancing gleefully around him.

When she stopped spinning, she laughed, looking a little out of breath. "I mean, I knew you would be, but I was worried. Come on, you must tell me about your adventures!" She glanced at Ryou and smiled. "Starting with who this is."

Link rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh, right. Yeah. Saria, this is Ryou. Ryou, this is Saria, my best friend in the world."

"Nice to meet you." Ryou said politely. "I've heard a lot about you from Link."

"It's nice to meet you too, Ryou." Saria replied in turn. "You don't see many non-Kokiri around here, you know."

Ryou nodded, smiling. "I kind of noticed." Looking the girl over, Ryou had the oddest feeling. It was almost like he was talking to a particularly wise and respected person, but looking at her extremely childish form, it was hard to tell why he had suddenly thought this.

Then it came to him: Saria was a Kokiri, and the Kokiri, as Link had said, never grew up. This child in front of him could very possibly be even older than Bakura. This observation made sense, but at the same time, something struck a wrong note. Link didn't give off this strange feeling of age in child form. Was he somehow... different?

Ryou himself hadn't been able to see any of the other Kokiri, so he didn't really have much to base this theory off of, but...

As Link talked to Saria, telling her about his journey to Hyrule Castle, Ryou continued to observe them. The two of them acted very much like children together, talking and laughing.

It was obvious that the two of them both cared for each other, but at the same time it was definitely a brother and sister relationship. Ryou doubted that either of them, even with Saria's hidden age, had even considered any sort of romantic relationship with anybody. Since the Kokiri were created and not born, there was no reason for that kind of love. And Link, even if he was different from the other Kokiri, was too young to be thinking about that anyway.

When Link reached the part of his story where he had met his new friend, Ryou stopped his ponderings in order to add input to the story where it was needed. And when the two of them reached the part where they got back to Kokiri Forest, Link glanced at Ryou, almost as if asking permission.

'_Her knowing about you won't hurt us._' Ryou reasoned. Bakura just grunted, so Ryou nodded at Link, who started in on the hilarious story of Ryou talking to himself. Ryou had to try hard not to laugh himself at the description of it. Saria didn't try not to, instead laughing merrily about it, and then asking if she could meet Bakura herself.

Bakura, feeling annoyed, appeared in his separate form and bowed curtly to the young girl, introducing himself in his normal fashion. Saria didn't seem fazed at all by his declaration that he was a thief and a stealer of souls, instead smiling and shaking his hand amiably.

Bakura, though not outwardly loosing his cool, was a little shaken by the girl's immense cheerfulness and disappeared back into the Ring at the first chance he could. '_She's annoying,_' he complained to Ryou.

'_You just don't like her because she's not scared of you._' Ryou teased.

'_Anyone more than a thousand years old has no business being that cheerful._' Bakura grumped.

Navi seemed a little annoyed about Saria's response to Bakura, for some reason. Ryou suspected that the fairy didn't like Bakura very much, but she never actually said so. Instead, she had simply stayed silent for most of the time, disappearing into Link's hat.

"So now the next step in our quest is to go and find the spiritual stones so that we can get to the Triforce," Link finished his story. "And that's going to be even more dangerous than what we've been doing so far, especially since we've decided to split up to go and get them."

Saria remained silent for a moment, and then looked up at Link with tear filled eyes. "I always knew that you were destined for great things, Link. I told you so when you first left. And I always knew, and still know, that you will come out victorious; a hero. But I still worry over you."

She held out her ocarina towards him. "Ever since you left, I've been working on this song. It's always been my favorite song to play, but I've been busy weaving the magic of the forest into it."

Link wondered at this. "What kind of magic?" he asked her.

"Well, first off, I've only taught this song to my closest friends among the Kokiri. The fact that I'm going to teach it to you will be proof to others that you are a true Kokiri, Link. That's magic in and of itself."

He looked down at his boots, touched by this gesture. She smiled at him, then looked over at Ryou. "I teach it to you also, Ryou, to you and Bakura, to show that the two of you are my friends as well, even though we've only just met."

Ryou blinked at her, a little surprised, but smiled and nodded. "Thank you." Bakura made a mental noise of acknowledgement, so Ryou added, "And Bakura thanks you too."

Saria closed her eyes with a smile and nodded as well. "The other, real magic that I've put into this song is that whenever you play it, it will establish a temporary mental connection between all of us. You can choose to contact me, or you can contact each other through this song."

Bakura was vaguely surprised. '_You can do that with just a song?_' he wondered.

Ryou repeated it aloud, wondering about it himself. Saria nodded. "Communication is one of the magics of the forest," she explained. "So, yes. Here, let me show you how it goes. You have something to play on, right Ryou?"

"Yes, Impa duplicated Link's ocarina for me," Ryou said, pulling it out. Link did the same with his.

Saria nodded. "Good." She raised her own ocarina to her lips and began to play.

Immediately, the fingerings for the notes she was playing appeared transparently over Ryou's vision, just as it had for Zelda's Lullaby. After Saria finished, Link played it through. Saria played it again, and then it was Ryou's turn. He closed his eyes and followed the fingerings there.

As he played, he could feel the magic of the song flowing through him and out through the ocarina's notes. When he finished the song, he looked up at Saria again, who was smiling at the two of them once more.

"It is called Saria's Song."

(Divider)

"Hoot! Hoot! Hey, Link!"

Link groaned as he and Ryou came to a stop, looking up at the owl who was now perched on another tunnel entrance in the Lost Woods. The two of them had only just re-entered the forest and they had run into this thing again.

The owl made itself comfortable on its perch and began to speak again. "I see that you and your new friend have traversed the treacherous terrain that is the Lost Woods quite safely, slaying all the monsters that lay within it and emerging triumphant! You will notice that when you finally reached your friend, Saria, she was greatly filled with joy at your return, she was happy to meet your new friend, Ryou, and yet she was filled with sorrow at the thought of your leaving again to face dangers unknown, to defeat villains of extraordinary caliber, and to save this great land of Hyrule. While you were yet in this young girl's presence, she expressed her worries to you that you might be greatly injured while on this quest. She wanted to have some way that she might know that her two friends were still alive and battling their hardest against the great dangers that they face. Gathering up her courage, she used the great and mysterious power of the forest to create a song unique to her, one that only her close friends would be privileged to learn, and one that held a great and mysterious power. This song she called simply Saria's Song, which name does not let mere passersby to know of such a great and mysterious power which is within its mighty yet playful notes, skipping to and fro to form a connection between individuals. What sort of connection is this, might you ask? Ah, but it is a verbal connection, that your words may be carried to one another, hither and thither, across the land, to wherever the other might be. And now that you have heard this song, you stand before me now, just about to reenter the vast and confusing Lost Woods, just about to leave the Kokiri Forest once again, and start your journey anew. Yes, you are about to embark on such a journey as neither of you have ever faced before. Ah, and now I see that you are aiming a slingshot at my eye. That's really not very nice of you, you know, and although I already know that your skills, while great and powerful, are not good enough to hit me, so have no fear, young adventurers, I shall be all right no matter what harm is placed against me. Yes, I shall continue on to gather all the information that I can to make your journeys lighter, to ease your burdens, to do my part to save this great land of Hyrule. While all other birds and animals simply gorge themselves on the various fruits and nuts growing on nearby berry trees, I alone shall prove useful to your cause. I shall not yield to the temptation of those berry trees, and from thence shall come the saying, 'A Hero is nothing without his all-knowing Owl.' And heroes you shall be, my young friends, for—"

Ryou could take no more. Since Link's slingshot seemed to have absolutely no effect on the bird, he tried the next best thing.

"Look! An airplane!" Ryou pointed wildly, trying to look as excited as he could.

Just as he had hoped, the owl swiveled its head around backwards, peering behind it. "An airplane, you say? That must be a word derived from your own world, you know, Ryou, for I believe I have heard it only a few times before. Considering that you seem to have been pointing at thin air, thousands of miles above our heads, I believe I remember hearing before that an airplane is a plane of existence that begins up there and produces this entire world's air supply for us. The word, of course, comes from the fact that it is a plane that creates air, therefore an air-plane. It is such a fascinating topic, that I've heard so much about, and I'm quite glad you brought it up..."

He continued in this fashion, his head still faced away, examining the air above them. Link turned to Ryou, confusion in his eyes. "What _is_ an airplane?" he asked.

Ryou grabbed his sleeve and pulled hard. "I'll tell you later! Run!"

They did so quickly, the bird's ramblings continuing behind them, ranging slowly from his own invented air-plane to the fact that such things as air-planes appear to be quite good at becoming distractions for quick get-aways.

They plunged through a random tunnel, Link going through first, and found themselves facing the Kokiri Forest once again. Never before were they quite so glad to see it again.

(Divider)

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY I finally finished writing this chapter!! Woo hoo! u.u

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Anyway, (sees line above this one, whacks DVD hard)

DVD: (wanders off, bonks head on post)

Daricio: u.u Anyway...

I seriously hope that it's not too obvious, but I wrote almost this entire chapter before realizing that I had totally forgotten to write Navi into it, so I had to go back and add her in before finishing the chapter. Whoops.

By the way, since when do fruits and nuts grow on berry trees?? ... ... And since when do BERRIES grow on TREES??

That last Kaepora Gaebora interaction was inspired by way too much sugar, and talking with DVD. Mostly DVD. Be glad I didn't include all of what DVD wanted me to put in there, because it would have included the owl eating people.

... Sooo, reviews make me happy, happy makes me write more, so review please!


	5. In Which The Adventure Begins

... There's nothing worse than starting a new chapter. Seriously.

Pulling up this totally blank word document and starting a new chapter from scratch is so very depressing...

... Another depressing thing is that apparently when people read, "Review please", they think it means, "Don't review on this story or the Phantom of the Opera will drop a chandelier on your head"...

Because I only got one review on that last chapter at first... (Although thanks for the other four reviews that came after that, they made me feel better). But, yeesh, falling chandeliers aren't _that_ bad, honest.

... Maybe if I end this chapter with, "Don't review on this story or the Phantom of the Opera will drop a chandelier on your head", more people will review... hmm...

Or maybe that will just scare people away.

On another note, I got the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, music book, and original book for my birthday. Can you tell? ... The story line makes little to no sense, but I loff the music.

Grrr, I have SO many ideas for this story, and I really want to write them out... But they all take place _after_ they get the spiritual stones... I've no idea what to do _now_... XD

... I have to say thank you to three of my reviewers for leaving me such nice reviews on this story. I love hearing what everyone's favorite parts of the story are, what they're expecting for future chapters, what they think needs improved. Not only does it make me a better writer, it makes me happy to know people are actually reading this stuff.

... Right, I'm going to start the chapter now.

(Divider)

After a quick check to be sure they still had enough supplies, Link and Ryou headed out of Kokiri Forest and back into Hyrule Field.

Keeping along the fringes of the forest, the two walked north towards the spot where the Zora River entered Hyrule Field. At that point, the two would separate, Link following the river downstream towards Kakariko Village, while Ryou went upstream to Zora's Domain.

For now, they walked together in companionable silence, hoping that what little training they had been able to do with Bakura would be enough to ensure their survival.

Link looked over at his friend and, deciding he was sick of the silence, started up a conversation. "So, what is an airplane, anyway?"

Caught by surprise by the abruptness of the question, Ryou laughed. "You probably wouldn't believe me," he said.

"Oh yeah? Try me." Link smirked.

Ryou shook his head in amusement. "It's a machine that can fly. We use them to carry lots of people long distances."

Link thought about this for a moment. "Didn't you say that your land didn't have much magic?" he asked.

Ryou nodded, grinning. "Yup. Don't ask me how it works, but airplanes fly without magic."

Navi frowned. "You're right, I don't believe you."

Link smiled, but shook his head, looking upward.

"I told you." Ryou said with a laugh.

"I believe you," Link retorted, still looking up. "How could somebody like you make up something as crazy as..." he trailed off and slowed to a stop, having caught a glimpse of something up in the trees. "Hang on..."

Ryou looked up as well, glancing from treetop to treetop but seeing nothing. "What?"

The Kokiri boy didn't answer, instead positioning himself at the base of one of the trees, studying it and its branches above him. Ryou looked up at these branches and thought he saw something small catch the light.

Link twisted so that his shoulder was facing the tree trunk, braced himself, then rammed the trunk with his shoulder. The tree shook fiercely, and the small item fell from the branches, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Navi flew over to it, lighting it up with her glow so that it could easily be seen. Link trotted over and picked it up, holding it up for Ryou to see. It was a blue rupee.

Abruptly, Bakura appeared in physical form beside him, snatching the rupee out of Link's fingers and turning it over in his hands to examine it.

"Hey!" Link complained. "I earned that fair and square."

"Just a second, I'll give it back." Bakura murmured distractedly, studying the point of the rupee in interest. "This is crazy..."

Link blinked at him. "What's crazy? It's just a rupee." He glanced at Ryou, but the other boy just shrugged at him. Whatever held the thief's interest, he hadn't let Ryou in on it yet.

Finally, Bakura looked up. "While we were in Castle Town, I commented at one point that the people spent their money as if it grew on trees or something." He held the rupee out for Link to take back. "I didn't realize that it actually did grow on trees!"

The green clad boy laughed. "Oh, yeah. I've found those things in trees, bushes, tall grass even. I dunno how they get there."

"Maybe some animal got a hold of them and put them there?" Ryou suggested.

Link shook his head. "Not with the amount of them that I find around. That'd be too much for just animals to do."

Bakura looked frustrated. "There are so many specific currency related magic spells all over those rupees. It doesn't make sense for them to be anything other than money. So how can something so magical just... grow??"

Link shrugged. "Dunno. They just do, I guess."

"This place is crazy," Bakura concluded again. With that said, he turned around and disappeared again. Navi gave his disappearing form a disapproving look.

Ryou shrugged with a grin. "I like it because it is crazy," he admitted.

Link smirked. "This world's crazy? You've got flying machines and no magic."

"Oh, if you think the airplane is crazy, wait till you hear about some of the other weird stuff we've got," Ryou said. "Like cell phones, for instance. It's getting so that you can't tell the difference between people talking to themselves like crazy people and people actually talking to people on the other side of the country with their phone..."

Link stared at Ryou. "What with the what now?"

Ryou laughed, and the two's conversation on this topic continued, with Bakura and Navi both appearing to talk as well, until they reached the water.

At this point, all conversation came to a halt and all four stood there silently, watching the water flow by. (Well, Navi flew, not stood, but same thing.)

"So... I guess... it's time to split up..." Link said slowly.

Ryou frowned. "I guess so... How am I supposed to get to Zora's Domain from here?"

Link shrugged. "Never been there. I dunno."

"All the water in the river comes from Zora's Domain, so if you just follow the river upstream, eventually you'll reach Zora's Domain," Navi said helpfully. "Of course, first you have to cross the river so you can reach that bit of land over there that actually follows the river."

"Cross the river." Ryou repeated, looking a little downcast at the prospect.

Bakura looked into the water and put his hand in. "The water's not too cold. Not exactly a hot spring, but you're not going to freeze in it either."

"Don't you mean 'We're' not going to freeze?" Ryou glanced at him. "You have to cross it too, you know."

Bakura just smirked. "Shows how much you know." And with that, he disappeared again. Ryou stuck his tongue out at the air where he had been standing.

Link chuckled at this. "I don't have to get wet to cross the river. There's a bridge down there that I can use."

"Thanks for being so sympathetic." Ryou laughed, giving Link a shove. Link's eyes widened as, stepping backwards to regain his balance, he found that he had been standing a little too close to the water's edge. His foot met air, then water.

There was a very large splash as Link toppled backwards into the water, to the great amusement of the rest of them. As soon as his head surfaced, he quickly found himself being carried slowly downstream by the current.

"It's a good thing," Link choked through water, "that this is the way I'm supposed to go!"

Ryou waved goodbye, with a smirk on his face. Bakura appeared again, looking askance at his hikari. Ryou glanced at him. "What?"

Bakura smirked as well. "I'm rubbing off on you."

"Well, he deserved it," Ryou said a little grumpily, looking back at the water and grinning at Link again. He called out to him. "I'll meet you back at the Temple of Time!"

There was a strangled gurgle in response, as Link's head chose that moment to sink down in the water. But once he had surfaced and coughed water out of his lungs, he finally waved back to Ryou, laughing.

"I guess I'd better go after him," Navi said, giggling. "Bye!"

Ryou waved at her too, then turned back to the challenge at hand. "So," he said almost conversationally to Bakura, "Got a boat in your pocket?"

Bakura gave him a deadpan look. "No."

"It was a joke."

"Right."

Ryou frowned at the water once again. "I suppose we could make some sort of bridge, using the rocks, and maybe cut down a few trees or so-"

"Just wade across the river, Ryou." Bakura sighed.

Ryou groaned. 'I'll get wet," he complained.

Bakura stared at him. "... And?"

"... Wet..."

"It isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. Think, Ryou. You're going to a place where fish people live. You're going to get very wet. Now go!"

Ryou sighed in defeat. "Fine." Slowly, shivering at the cold water, he waded in. And then he waded back out on the other side. Bakura disappeared, and then reappeared on the other side.

"See? That wasn't so hard."

Ryou groaned again, wringing water out of his clothes. "Wet."

The thief rolled his eyes and the two of them walked on up the river. Very soon, they came across a large gate, barred shut by several large boulders. Ryou dug around in his bottomless bag until he came across his bomb bag.

"This must be what Impa was talking about when she said we'd need bombs to get by the barricade." Ryou said, rather unnecessarily, as he pulled out a bomb. He lit it and set it by the nearest boulder. Then he jogged backwards a short ways to get out of the way.

Bakura didn't, instead opting to stand next to one of the boulders and examine a crack in it.

Ryou blinked at him. "Uh, Bakura? I'd stand back if I were you."

Bakura glanced back at him. "Why?"

The bomb exploded, sending shrapnel flying everywhere, including at the spirit. Bakura didn't even flinch as the large pieces flew right through him. The smoke cleared, revealing that the way was now clear, and that the spirit was still standing in the same spot, completely intact.

Bakura smirked at Ryou. "Again, why?"

With wide eyes, Ryou held up one shaking hand. "I keep forgetting you can do that."

The thief rolled his eyes. "Come on." He intentionally ignored the new opening and just walked through one of the remaining boulders to the other side.

Ryou followed him through the gap he had created. "I really wish you wouldn't do tha-"

"HOO HOO! Well, what do you know?"

Ryou frowned. That response was very unlike Bakura. Then understanding dawned on him and he groaned. The owl had found them again.

The owl's piercing gaze was settled on Ryou, Bakura having disappeared as soon as he discovered the owl's presence. Bakura was fairly certain that the owl somehow knew of his existence, but he didn't want to push it.

"I hoped that I would find you here, Ryou. So, you've started out on your journey to find the spiritual stones and help Link save the world from destruction by that evil man, Ganondorf, who wishes to take the stones for himself and use them along with the ocarina of time to open the door of time to gain access to the all powerful Triforce and use it to completely reform the world to his own evil purposes. You have grown far stronger and more powerful than last I saw you, simply by your training and traveling, and I know that this ability to continue getting stronger will eventually lead you to a great victory."

The owl's head turned upside down and its eyes closed in content at its long sentences.

He continued, "And your journeying has finally brought you here, to Zora's river, on your way to Zora's Domain. Zora's Domain is a very wet place, home of the freaky fish guys, or in other words, of the Zoras, whose bodies have developed, strangely enough, into fish in order to adapt to their wet climate. They make their home in a large cave area full of wet water, which exists behind the great waterfall at the head of this great river of wet water. Personally, being a flying creature of many feathers, I prefer to stay away from wet water, especially the great waterfall of wetness of which I have spoken. But it is there, in this place of great wetness, that you must traverse in order to continue your quest of finding the spiritual stone of water, the Zora's Sapphire, held for centuries by one of the Zora royal family. You must entreat those of the royal family to let you use their precious stone. It won't come easily, especially considering your age. While you are nearer to adulthood than your new friend, Link, you will still be regarded as a child in this land for a few years to come. But I suspect that one such as you will be able to convince the royal family of your great need, yes, of your necessary acquisition of that precious stone so that you may stop that evil man Ganondorf from getting his hands on it, and thus on the mighty Triforce itself, which he desires so that he may reform the world to his own evil purposes, and in so preventing him from doing so, save the world from evil. The luck of the goddesses, as well as the skills of a certain master thief, are on your side, so you will prevail, you must prevail, for the fate of this great land of Hyrule depends on your victory."

The owl's head righted and it opened its eyes. "Do you want me to repeat what..." It blinked, looking around. "Where are you? Did you disappear into the aero plane? Fascinating subject that is, aero planes, you know, I actually did an extensive study of them after your first mention of them, that is to say, I thought about it a lot, for my head is as vast as the vastest library of vastness..."

By this time, Ryou and Bakura were a good ways up the river.

(Divider)

Link floated down the river, Navi flying above his head. He debated getting out of the water, since it was beginning to grow dark and the water would undoubtedly grow colder soon. Finally, he decided that getting out would be the best course. It had been nice not having to use any energy and yet still be moving towards his destination, but being cold at night wouldn't be doing him any favors.

Slowly, he made his way to the bank and struggled up onto solid ground. Standing still for a moment, the magic of his tunic quickly removed the water from his clothing, leaving only his hair still wet.

Luckily, he was only a short ways from the bridge that joined the area in front of Kakariko Village to the rest of Hyrule Field. He meandered over to it, wondering why he hadn't just gotten out of the river on the side that he was trying to get to.

Walking halfway across the bridge, he stopped for a moment and leaned over the railing, looking down into the river.

Suddenly, there was a gurgling earth ripping noise, immediately followed by a loud blood-curdling scream. Link jumped a mile, pulling his sword out and looking around quickly. There was nobody in sight.

"What was that?" he asked nobody in particular.

Navi shrugged, "I dunno. It kind of sounded like the same sound that the Stalchilds make when they appear... except that there are no Stalchilds here..."

Link looked back at the river. "And there was that strange gurgle with it, like it was coming from under water... and the scream..."

There was a moment of silence as they contemplated what had just occurred, when suddenly it happened again. This time, Link was paying attention enough to see what went on.

As the Stalchild ripped its way up through the ground, attempting to appear in front of its intended target, Link, it had forgotten about the presence of the river and so had appeared underwater. Stalchilds were apparently allergic to water, (Like everything in Mario Sunshine) so it exploded, screaming.

Link shook his head. "They're not very smart, are they?"

"Not really." Navi agreed.

But now they had a strategy for not having to fight the Stalchilds. Following the river, with Link keeping his front facing the water, they made their way up to the stairs leading to Kakariko.

The Stalchilds attempted to appear three more times, each time accidentally suiciding on the water. Link and Navi were able to ignore them. (1)

(Divider)

Ryou stared at a chicken. It wasn't doing anything particularly important, unless you count strutting around pecking at nothing as being important. However, this particular chicken appeared to be the only way to get through this area.

The river at this point was too deep and too swift to wade through, and though one section of the river on both sides was worn down in a way that suggested that a bridge had once existed there, the bridge had obviously long since disappeared.

However, there was a chicken wandering around, and the strange man eating beans, which Ryou had politely declined to buy from him, had told him that the chicken was his best bet at getting through this area.

Unfortunately, Ryou couldn't seem to get past the fact that this defied all laws of physics and gravity. Pick up the chicken and when you jump, you float? That sounded as ridiculous as using an umbrella...

And besides... "Chickens are evil," Ryou moaned. "It's like they have a personal vendetta against me. Any time I get near one, they attack me."

Bakura shook his head. "It's just a bird. How 'evil' can it be?" He walked up to the chicken and grabbed it. Viciously, it clawed at his hands and head, flapping its wings in his face and attempting to bite him with its large beak. This would have hurt, but Bakura was a spirit, and so was able to keep himself just physical enough to hang on.

"Huh. Well, what do you know, it seems to hate me." Bakura observed.

Ryou sighed. "All chickens hate everybody."

Still hanging onto it tightly, Bakura slowly managed to calm the chicken down enough that it stopped trying to eat his face and merely sat there with a malicious glare in its beady little eyes.

"Here, take it, before it gets riled up again." He handed it to his hikari, who flinched as the chicken passed hands.

The chicken didn't seem to mind the change any more than it seemed to mind anything around here, which is to say, it glared at them a lot. Ryou sighed. "Let's try this, then."

He squeezed his eyes shut and took a running leap at the edge of the river, the now wildly flapping chicken held high above his head. When he didn't immediately hit water, he cracked one eye open and looked down.

Strangely, against all reason, the flapping of the chicken was keeping him airborne much longer than seemed possible. After gliding for a second more, he landed safely and easily on the other side of the river.

And then the chicken began to attack his face. Wildly, he tossed it into the river, where it splashed around for a moment, then glared at him as it floated downstream.

(Divider)

Not wanting to wake anybody in the village this late at night, Link crept up to the gate as quietly as possible. Vaguely noting that there was a Hylian guard standing at attention at Kakariko's main gate, he began to walk into the village.

"DING DONG, DING DONG!" The guard shouted suddenly. Link froze and stared at him. Navi jumped a mile, then turned blue and circled the guard's head. The guard gave him an easy smile, ignoring Navi. "The time is 03:07!" He grinned at Link, who simply continued to stare at him.

Then, the guard's smile faded. "I'm a clock soldier." He explained slowly. "My job is to stand here and announce the time to passerby."

Link blinked. "Even at three in the morning?"

The clock soldier nodded miserably. "Yyyup."

"Sucks to be you," Navi said sympathetically.

"Don't you, like... get any sleep?" Link asked.

"Not usually." The soldier gave a small shrug. "Anyway, enjoy your stay in Kakariko."

Link stared at him for a moment longer. "Kay. See ya." He wandered further into the village. Navi hesitated for a moment, cast a quick rest spell on the tired soldier, then followed after Link.

"Remind me never to enlist in the Hylian army," Link muttered. Navi nodded her agreement.

"Not that they'd let you anyway, seeing as you're a Kokiri."

"Good point."

In the dark, it was hard to see all the details of the village they had just entered, but it seemed like a nice, quiet place. A large tree stood in the middle of the town's main square. A few of the buildings had lights on in the upper windows, but overall, the town appeared to be asleep, save for a strangely pale teen leaning up against the tree in the middle, muttering to himself.

Link chose to ignore him and instead started to wander around the darkened village, searching for the entrance to the Death Mountain trail.

As he walked up the pathway leading to the back area of Kakariko, Link glanced over at one of the houses, only to note that the door was hanging open slightly. There were no lights on in that house, and a strange sound seemed to be coming from inside.

He stopped, pointing this out to Navi. She blinked, then flew over to the door, peering inside. "I don't see anything in there... It's really dark..."

Link followed her and pulled the door open a little more. "Hello?" he called, looking inside. "Is anybody here? You left your door open..."

A faint rustling sound answered this call, followed by an almost familiar scratching noise. Link blinked at this, then took a few steps inside.

Once he had gotten past the door, the room seemed to light up a little, bringing it from dark to dim. Link still couldn't see much, but the whole house seemed to be comprised of one huge room, which appeared to be empty.

It had a high ceiling, held up by various wooden pillars. Link guessed it was probably another story tall, and the rafters were covered in spider webs, but it was too dark to actually see the ceiling itself.

He took a few more steps forward, approaching the center pillar.

Abruptly, something dropped towards him from above. Link instinctively drew his sword and jumped backwards, rolling out of the way into a corner, where another something dropped on his head.

Screaming, he flailed around for a moment, edging backwards away from it and shielding his face with his hands. Then, he realized that the thing, whatever it was, wasn't actually hurting him... Or even doing anything, besides just hanging there.

Navi floated closer to it and gasped as her light lit up the thing's face.

It looked like a giant skulltula, the same kind as he had seen haunting the corners of the Great Deku Tree... Only instead of the strange painted grin on its armored back, a real human face with haunted eyes peered at him from inside the spider, almost as if he were wearing a mask.

Link looked over to where the first one had dropped towards him. It was still hanging there, looking over at him with a sad look in his eyes. This one seemed worse off than the other, as it even had a regular human arm sticking out where a skulltula leg should have been.

"Wh... what ARE you?" Link whispered, slowly getting to his feet and putting away his sword.

The first one looked to the floor. "We are the Skulltula family. My name is Reuel. We look like this because of a curse that was placed upon our family. There is hope for us, if only one such as you will help us..."

Link looked from one to the other. "But what can I do? I'm a swordsman, kind of, and not a magician... I don't know anything about curses..."

"The only way to break the curse," Reuel continued, "is to destroy all of the 100 'spiders of the curse', known as Gold Skulltulas. They are the only physical thing holding this curse into this world, and the more of them that you defeat, the weaker the curse grows."

Link stared for a moment, then went digging in his pouch. "Gold Skulltulas...? You mean those weird spiders that Navi can't fly near, that leave strange talismans when you kill them?"

He held up a gold token and the spider's human eyes lit up. "Yes, yes! That's it exactly. They leave tokens behind as they die, and when you collect those, that ensures that the bit of the curse that spider was responsible for can't come back. So will you do it? Will you help my family?"

Link nodded firmly. "Sure, of course! I'm already on a quest, so I can't exactly go full out searching for these spiders, but any time I see one, I'll be sure to take care of it."

Reuel looked relieved. "I can't thank you enough for even that much. To know that at least some of my family members will be restored to their original forms..." He glanced at the still open door and his eyes narrowed. "Many of the spiders only come out at night, though. I know of several just in this village, but my family and I cannot even leave this house."

"Okay, so where are the ones you know about? I can get those, at the very least. It's night right now, and that's the perfect time to go hunting those things." Link offered helpfully.

The spider-human offered him a smile, or as much of a smile as he could manage with his face mostly skulltula. "There is one that is hiding up in the large tree in Kakariko's main square. And another is climbing on the tower on the north side of town. There's one up in Kakariko's graveyard, too, but it's up on the wall kind of high. I'm not sure if you can reach it..."

Link smiled. "Well, I can try, anyway."

(Divider)

Ryou and Bakura managed to make their way up to the head of the river without too much difficulty, aside from strange octopus looking things that shot rocks at them. (This detail made them rather unlike octopuses... (octopi...?))

At the head of the river was a large waterfall, which seemed to be covering a cave of some sort behind it. A network of earthen bridges wound their way up to the waterfall.

Crossing over one of these bridges, trying to figure out how to get over to the one immediately in front of the waterfall, Ryou discovered a ladder leading down to the river below. Strangely, it was guarded by a large, gold spider.

"Hey, Bakura, have you ever seen anything like that?"

Bakura rolled his eyes, wandering over. "Have I ever seen anything like anything in this crazy world? What is it?"

"That." Ryou pointed to the giant spider, which was large enough to take up the entire ladder with its body alone.

Bakura looked over the edge at it. "Huh. That's a big spider. It doesn't actually seem to be doing anything... just edging around on that ladder. I dunno, my first instinct is to ignore it and move on, but there's something not quite right with it... I'm not sure what, though. Just kill it."

Ryou blinked. "Kill it? But it's just a spider. It didn't do anything to us."

"Like I said, there's something not quite right about it. There seems to be some sort of spell centered on it, but I can't magically focus on it. That tells me that it's something trying to hide the fact that it's magical. I dunno, Ryou, just kill it."

Ryou pulled out his sword and hopped the short distance down into the water so that he could face the spider at eye level. He cringed a bit at the cold water, and watched the spider for a moment. It didn't seem to notice him, and just continued turning in circles on the ladder.

He shifted his grip on the sword and stabbed the spider hard, in the back. It emitted a strange, almost mechanical sounding squeal as it exploded, falling from its perch and falling to the shallow water below. It faded away, as all monsters in this realm appeared to do when they died, and suddenly a token of some sort appeared on the ladder where the spider had just been clinging.

Ryou blinked, reaching for the token. "What is that?"

Bakura looked at it sideways. "Strange. The concealing charm around it is gone, and I can focus on that token just fine... There's still a spell on the token, but the spell's target is far away from here, so I still can't really tell what it is... However, it's obviously not going to hurt you."

"So I should probably take it with me, if only so we can ask Link and Navi about it later?" Ryou suggested, grabbing it.

Bakura shrugged. "Sounds good to me." Then he frowned. "Hang on... When you picked it up, the spell shifted. It's still focused on the same area, somewhere west of here, but it's slightly different now... Instead of holding a spell, it seems to be repelling it."

"We'll ask Link about it," Ryou said with a shrug, stuffing it in his pouch. He climbed back up the ladder onto the bridge thing and resumed making his way over to the waterfall.

Once they were both over there, they immediately noticed a large Triforce symbol carved into a stone slab embedded in the ground. The slab was directly across from where the waterfall was blocking access to the cave.

"It says something here," Ryou noted, looking down at it. He squinted, then sighed. "But it's written in Hylian. I can't read it."

Bakura shrugged. "Well, we were told that they'd only open the doors for the Royal Family, or whatever, and since there's a convenient symbol of the Royal Family sitting right here, I'd say we have to show our identification here."

Ryou blinked. "Identification? What identifi... oh, right." He pulled out his ocarina and played Zelda's Lullaby.

The carving of the Triforce glowed slightly, and the flow of the waterfall shifted slightly, letting them get through into the cave.

"Well, that worked." Bakura noted. They jumped the short distance from the bridge into the cave and proceeded into Zora's Domain.

(Divider)

Link stepped out of the Skulltula house, making sure to close the door behind him. Turning, he headed for the closest of the three Gold Skulltulas that Reuel had mentioned: the one in the main square's tree.

Unfortunately, in order to get this one, he would have to bother that strange pale kid that was leaning up against it, whom he had previously ignored.

Slowly, he approached. "Um, excuse me...?"

The kid looked up at him, revealing spooky dark circles around his eyes. "People are disgusting," he said depressingly. "My own mother and father are disgusting. You must be disgusting too."

Link blinked. "Um, thanks. Right, well, could you move out of the way for a moment? There's something in that tree that I need to get..."

The kid shook his head in obvious disgust. "See, I knew it. Disgusting. Always thinking of nobody but yourself, pushing people like me around whenever it's convenient. Simply disgusting." He looked back down at his knees and didn't move.

Link watched him for a moment, then gave up. "Fine, suit yourself. Just be warned, I'm going to hit the tree you're leaning on..."

A faint murmur came from the boy that sounded vaguely like "Disgusting."

Link went around to the other side of the tree, then slammed into it. The kid almost fell over. The spider in the tree came loose and fell to the ground beside him.

The kid's eyes opened wide. "Aagh! It's disgusting! What is that thing?"

Link stabbed it with his sword, and it emitted a mechanical screech and exploded, its pieces fading away slowly. A token appeared on the ground where it had fallen. Link quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into his pouch.

"Kay, thanks, bye." Link turned to leave.

The kid stared after him. "You... you saved me from it... Maybe you're not so disgusting after all..."

(Divider)

Zora's Domain. The whole place was basically a giant cave, with water filling the base, and narrow walkways along the sides. A giant waterfall issued from the rock high above and emptied into the pool. The cave was lit by some unknown source, but there were some torches here and there as well.

But the weirdest thing about the cave was the people in it. Ryou could see them swimming around in the water below, and there were some standing on the shore. He had heard the Zora being described as fish-people, but he hadn't realized that they meant this literally.

The people didn't wear clothes, but they seemed to be more fish than human, so that didn't matter too much. They did stand on two legs, and had two arms and a head, but that was the extent of their human-ness. Their toes and fingers were webbed, and they had large fins on the backs of their heads, arms, and legs.

Bakura had, of course, disappeared into the Ring the moment they entered, but Ryou made his way slowly down the narrow walkway. He wasn't sure exactly where he was going, beyond the fact that he was looking for a throne room of some sort.

Finally, he decided to ask for directions. He walked over to the nearest Zora standing on the shore. "Um, excuse me... could you tell me where I can find King Zora?"

The Zora looked down at him. "You're kind of short for a Royal Messenger," he commented. Ryou frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but the Zora continued. "Just follow that path over there that leads up. The throne room is the highest room."

Ryou nodded. "Thanks." He headed up the path, still looking around and taking in the strange sight of the place. Eventually, he reached what was obviously the throne room.

Before, Ryou had wondered how the Zora had simply assumed that his king would be in the throne room. Now he knew: the Zora king obviously couldn't actually leave the throne room. Unlike the other Zoras, who were thin and agile, this Zora was so huge and round, with tiny legs that probably wouldn't support his weight even if he tried to get up, that leaving the room, or even moving around it, was impossible.

Ryou gaped at him for a moment, then shook himself, walking up onto the raised platform in the middle of the room. "Excuse me, King Zora..."

The huge king didn't seem to notice him. "Oooh, my poor dear Princess Ruto... Where could she have gone...?"

"Um, I was sent by the Princess Zelda of Hyrule, to find-"

"Would you please help me look for my daughter? She is missing, and I simply cannot go on without knowing she is safe..." the Zora king seemed to have noted his presence, but refused to talk about anything but his daughter.

Ryou frowned. "I'm not from around here, sir. I wouldn't know the first place to look. Please sir, I came to talk to you about-"

"There must be something you can do!" He stopped looking at Ryou and went back to staring at the far wall. "Ooh, my poor dear Princess Ruto..."

Ryou gave up and just stared at him. _Great. Well, that's just great. Now what?_

_I don't think he's all there in the head_, Bakura noted. _Maybe ask around about Ruto? I get the feeling we're not going to get anywhere with this guy until somebody finds her..._

Ryou sighed, then turned to leave the throne room. As he did, something caught his eye. There was a second exit to the throne room, which, if Ryou had his bearings straight, seemed to lead to the top of the waterfall they had seen earlier.

The pathway that direction was covered in a shallow layer of water, but Ryou was used to this by now. Glancing once more at the king, who still didn't seem to notice he was there, he jumped into the water and headed toward the other exit.

There was a long corridor this direction. At the end of it stood a Zora, who was looking down the waterfall at the pool below. Hearing Ryou splash up to him, he looked up and smiled. "Hi. Want to play a game?"

Ryou hesitated a moment. "A game? What kind of game?"

"A diving game. It costs ten rupees to play, but if you play it right, you get them all back. I'll toss them down into the water down there, then you dive for them. If you can grab them all within the time limit, I'll give you a prize. Sound good?"

Ryou frowned. "Hang on, dive?"

The Zora smiled. "Yup. Down there." He pointed off the edge of the waterfall to the pool.

Hesitating a moment longer, Ryou crept to the edge and looked down. It was a long way down. He gulped. "Well..."

"Come on, you can do it! It won't even cost you anything! You can get the rupees back, plus a prize!" the Zora encouraged him.

Ryou continued to stare down at the bottom. "How deep is the water down there?" he asked softly.

"Don't worry, it's deep enough. Nobody's ever gotten hurt at this game before, I don't think it'll happen today."

"Well... Okay, I guess..." He steeled his nerves and handed over two blue rupees.

The Zora shook his head, putting away the two blue rupees and pulling out ten green ones. "Not that easy. Okay, ready?" He threw the rupees over the waterfall.

"Aren't you afraid of losing those?" Ryou asked curiously.

The Zora shrugged. "If you don't get them, I will. We're good divers. Now, you ready?"

Ryou looked down again, with a small groan. "No," he said in a small voice. "But I'll go anyway." He could hear Bakura laughing at him and knew that if he didn't go, he'd never live it down.

"GO!"

Ryou grimaced, then jumped. Not knowing how to actually dive, he curled into a cannonball position and shut his eyes tightly. "AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

He hit the water with a large splash. Choking slightly, he kicked back up to the surface. "It's cold!"

_It's always cold, Ryou! Now quick, get those rupees!_ Bakura laughed.

Ryou could hear the Zora counting from on top of the waterfall. "56... 55... 54..."

Quickly, he dove under the water towards one of the shimmering green stones. Strangely, the water didn't seem to be all that deep, despite the fact that he had just jumped into it from a long distance without getting hurt, so was able to grab the rupee, and the next one, and the next with relative ease.

_Good! Now get the last one!_

_Where is the last one?_ Ryou asked silently, attempting to look around. He had water in his eyes, and he could hear the Zora counting down lower and lower numbers as his time ran out. He only had about 15 seconds left.

_There!_

_Where?_ Instantly, the ring materialized on the outside of his shirt and one of the pointers jabbed forward. Ryou blinked the water out of his eyes and peered in that direction. _Oh._ He dived forward and swam towards it, only just managing to grab it before his time ran out.

"Great job!" he heard the Zora call out when he resurfaced. "Come back up here so I can give you your prize!"

Ryou sputtered and swam for the walkways on the side. A few Zoras there applauded his efforts and he turned red. The ring had disappeared again.

Slowly, Ryou made his way back up the pathway leading to the throne room, still dripping wet. Finally reaching the Zora back up at the top of the waterfall, he sat down heavily in the water next to him. "How did I let you talk me into that?" he moaned slightly.

The Zora laughed. "You did well. I almost thought you weren't going to get that last one in time, but you got it. Here's your prize."

Ryou looked up. The Zora was holding up what looked like a large fish scale. He took it and looked it over. "Um, what is it?"

"This is a scale of our people. Not much of a prize to other Zoras, but useful for someone like you. It will let you dive deeper than you could before, by letting you hold your breath longer."

Ryou looked the fish scale over some more. "Um.. Well, what do I do with it?"

The Zora shrugged. "Wear it as a pendant, or just keep it with you somehow."

Ryou blinked, then shrugged, putting it in his bag next to the strange token. _I still don't get how it works,_ he admitted to Bakura.

_Magic spell, like an amulet._ Bakura supplied.

_Ah, got it._ Ryou looked up at the Zora again. "Well, thanks, then."

The Zora grinned. "So, do you want to play again?"

Ryou shook his head. "Er, I'd rather not." The Zora laughed, and Ryou got up and walked back to the throne room, ignoring the fat king's muttering.

(Divider)

After using his slingshot to take care of the skulltula on the tower, and climbing up to collect its token, Link had headed for Kakariko's graveyard to see if he could reach the skulltula that Reuel had mentioned was there.

The whole area was rather spooky, particularly because it was a graveyard at night, and those are always spooky. There were headstones lined up in various rows, some with flowers planted in front of them. To complete the spooky image, a strange man with a shovel was wandering around the graveyard.

Link, avoiding the man with the shovel, slowly made his way to the back of the graveyard, following the faint sound of mechanical scratching that he now knew was caused by a Gold Skulltula.

When he located it, he realized that Reuel was right; the skulltula was clinging to the cliffside surrounding the graveyard, and even if he used his slingshot to kill it, he wouldn't be able to reach the token.

Sighing, he looked around, blinking as he spotted a rather large tombstone at the very back of the graveyard, with two smaller ones on either side. In front of these stones was a large Triforce symbol painted on the ground.

"What the...?" He wandered over and Navi floated by to light up the words written on the large gravestone.

"'_Resting place of the Royal Family of Hyrule,'_" Navi read. "That's interesting. I didn't know the Royal Family would be buried in a Sheikan graveyard..."

Link wandered to one of the smaller headstones. "So whose are these? '_R.I.P. Sharp, One of the Royal Composer Brothers.'_ Composer Brothers?"

Suddenly, there was a rush of wind, and a large Poe appeared, holding a lantern in one hand and a conductor's baton in the other. It had a large red mustache. "Yes, Composer Brothers," it snapped at him. "Don't tell me you've never heard of us! Sharp and Flat, the two Royal Composer Brothers of Hyrule!"

Link stared at the ghost without saying anything, his mouth hanging slightly open. The ghost seemed to take this as a no. Flustered, it turned to the other gravestone.

"Hey, Flat! Get a load of this! This kid doesn't know who we are! Have we really been dead that long?"

There was another rush of wind at the other headstone and a second Poe appeared, also holding a lantern and a baton. This one was slightly thinner and had a yellow mustache.

"What has this world come to?" He floated over, shaking his head. "What do they teach you kids in school now?"

Link scowled. "I'm not a kid, I'm a Kokiri."

Sharp laughed. "Right, and I'm a Stalchild."

Navi turned red and started floating around his face. "Why does nobody ever believe us? Where else do you see fairies and an all-children society? What did they teach you in YOUR school?"

The Poe looked vaguely affronted. "By golly, it's a fairy!" He exclaimed. "Flat, look! A Fairy!

Flat looked bored. "Right, that's nice, Sharp." He turned to Link, rolling his eyes, "Imagine being stuck in a graveyard next to _him_ for eternity..."

Sharp glared at his brother. "Shut up, Flat."

Link looked from one to the other, frowning. "So... so who are you guys?"

"Ah yes, we must inform the short ignorant kid.. er, 'Kokiri', of who we are." Sharp turned to Link. "We are the Royal Composer Brothers, Sharp and Flat. I'm Sharp, he's Flat."

"I gathered that much," Link said dryly. "So does that mean you're both out of tune?"

Sharp glared, but chose to ignore this. Flat continued the explanation. "Our last project before we died was studying the effects of magic on music. We composed the song known as Zelda's Lullaby, which is, to my knowledge, still being used as a symbol of the Royal Family today."

"And another, far more important song as well," Sharp added enthusiastically. "One that controls time itself!"

Link looked up at this. "Really?"

Flat shrugged. "Well, kind of. It speeds up time to either dusk or dawn, whichever is closer. At the same time, it casts a spell that makes it so that nobody but the player of the song is actually aware of time passing during the sped up bit."

Link thought about this for a second. "So it makes day night, and night day without disturbing anyone else."

"Basically." Sharp agreed. "Very useful for forcing it to be certain times of day, or for waiting for things. Also, the light magic in this song can be used to freeze the undead."

Link grinned. "So can I learn this song?"

Sharp laughed at him. "Like we're going to teach such a powerful spell to some random kid." Link glared and Sharp shrugged. "'_Kokiri_', then. This song only goes to the members of the Royal Family."

Sharp and Flat laughed, then disappeared, leaving Link feeling frustrated.

"Well, that's annoying," Link muttered. "They didn't even ask if I was part of the Royal Family or not."

Navi blinked at him. "Well, you're not..."

"I know. But they didn't even ask..."

"Maybe because you told them you're a Kokiri...?"

Link sulked. "Well, I may not be part of the Royal Family, but I do have connections to the Royal Family... Hey, hang on a second... Maybe if I prove I'm connected to them, they'll teach me the song!"

Navi floated there. "How are you going to do that?"

"With that song, remember?" Link stood on the Triforce Symbol painted on the ground, pulled out his ocarina, and played Zelda's Lullaby.

Nothing happened at first, then lightning began to flash in the sky. The two composer brothers appeared over their gravestones again.

"How do you know that song?" Sharp demanded. "That's the song of the Royal Family!"

"Now you've done it..." Flat said, glancing up at the sky. "You opened the tomb!"

The lightning flashed more fiercely and it began to rain. Sharp and Flat both covered their faces with their hands. "Electricity and Spirits don't mix!" squealed Sharp. They both disappeared.

In the sky, the lightning streaked from the clouds rapidly, and the tombstone in front of Link began to glow and crackle with energy. The electricity built up for a few seconds, and then the stone couldn't take it any more. It exploded, sending rock flying everywhere.

Link cried out and dove to the ground, covering up his head, but amazingly, none of the stone landed on him. Slowly, Link looked up. Where the tombstone once stood, there was now a gaping hole in the ground.

Link climbed to his feet slowly, looking around. Neither of the ghosts were in sight, so Link walked over to the hole, looking inside. It was pitch black.

"So... wanna go grave robbing?" Link asked nervously.

Navi scoffed. "That sounds more like Bakura's job. No, we just have to go look for that song... The ghosts haven't reappeared to try and stop us or anything, so they probably have it written down in there somewhere."

Link nodded, and then, with a gulp, jumped in the hole.

(Divider)

Daricio: Okay, so that's the end of that chapter... I guess... We were going to make it longer, but it's already like 22 pages long as it is, and if we had stopped at our original chapter ending, it would have ended up a good thirty or so pages, and that's just a little too much random adventure to handle at one time...

So, as I'm writing this author note, we've already got 4 pages of the next chapter written, and are still working on it whenever we have time...

By the way, if you're wondering who "we" is, I mean me and my brother, DVD. See, he started reading over my shoulder at one point, and kept nagging me to continue. When I ran out of ideas, he started spouting off random narration, so I wrote down what he said. Now we just work on ideas together, and I write it.

This started manifesting with the owl thing. A lot of what Kaepora Gaebora says was directly inspired by DVD being weird.

So anyway, we decided to become co-authors on this, and we've got a ton of ideas for the upcoming chapters, especially after the whole seven year thing that happens in OoT. We've got a cool sword and special abilities planned for Ryou, and Bakura and Link have cool parts too.

DVD: (puts on co-author helmet of Doom) Arr. (begins attacking cardboard cut-out of Ganon with Ryou's future new sword)

Malik: ... Daricio, your brother is even crazier than you are.

Daricio: I know, isn't he awesome?

Malik: u.u

Kura: (eyeing the sword that DVD's using) ... what kind of a sword is that, anyway?

Daricio: Well, I'm not telling you yet... That'll spoil it... You don't get it for another seven years or so...

Kura: TT

Daricio: But don't worry, most of it passes by in about two seconds.

Kura: ... what?

Daricio: Never mind. DVD, anything else we should probably mention?

Kaiba: How about that you two are both idiots?

Daricio: u.u How about we mention that if a certain muse keeps acting up, we'll put him into the story so he can get stabbed by a giant moblin.

Kaiba: Point taken.

DVD: Hmmm. (pondering ways to add Kaiba into the story somehow... or Yugi...)

Kaiba: u.u Oh no you don't. (goes back to typing on his computer)

Daricio: ... (looks around) Hey, DVD, why aren't your muses here?

DVD: I fired them all. Arr. ... Except DVD185, couldn't fire him.

Daricio: Why not? And where is he?

DVD: He bribed me with candy. ... u.u and he's over there eating all my candy that he bribed me with.

DVD185: (eating DVD's candy)

Daricio: ... oh. ... Right, well, we should end this chapter now, like, before this author note gets longer than the story. o.o''

DVD: Oh probably. (presses button)

DVD185: (spring appears underneath him, suddenly sproings through the ceiling) Aaaaah!

Daricio: ... Right. Well, review everyone! ... Er, I mean, "Don't review on this story, or the Phantom of the Opera will drop a chandelier on your head." There, that'll work. Muahahahaha...

DVD: Whoops, wrong button.


	6. In Which Time Flies

Daricio: Yay, I didn't have to pull up a totally blank word document to start the new chapter this time, cause we cut the last chapter short (... long?) and put what we cut off here. Yay.

DVD: Yay beginning author note. Now what?

Daricio: Well, first off, apparently, threatening people with chandeliers really does work!

DVD: Or maybe it has more to do with the fact that the review system was apparently down a little while and now it's up again.

Daricio: Shush. The Phantom of the Opera had everything to do with it... Either way, though, I was shocked to suddenly have my inbox full of reviews. It made me very very happy. ...

(Thus ends the part of the author note that was written when I _started_ writing this chapter...)

... On another note, despite the fact that a huge part of this chapter was already written when I posted the last chapter, it's taken me a good couple of months to update. Er, sorry. There's really no excuse, but I have some anyway. First off, I just started college, just moved away from home and trying to get used to new classes and junk. Plus, since I'm away from home, it's harder to collaborate with DVD...

Malik: You started college in January, you had plenty of time before that...

Daricio: Shush. The other excuse I have is that Link is boring. Writing out his parts of the story, except when they intersect with Ryou's parts, is really really boring and time consuming.

Malik: That's a pathetic excuse.

Daricio: Shush. The last excuse is that I randomly got obsessed with Bleach, and so have been spending my free time writing a story for that.

Malik: (scoffs) And what does this "Bleach" have that we don't??

Daricio: (emoticon) pretty swords. ... Actually, no, I actually like Bleach mainly because of Ichigo's hollow, so that's technically the _same_ sort of thing that Yu-Gi-Oh has that I like. XD

DVD: Enough Bleach ranting, end the author notes so that the fans can read _this_ story.

Daricio: ... Oh, right. Anyway, so if the ending of this chapter seems a bit... er... cut off randomly to you... it's because it is. XD In response to a review, I just kind of hastily posted up what I had. So, I apologize to people who actually want to see this story continued... It may or may not continue in the _near_ future because of problems, but it will continue eventually and it's nice to know there's still people paying attention to this... o.o

SO, let's start the chapter! (presses button)

DVD: (CHANDELIER'D!) Ow. .

Daricio: Whoops, wrong button. This one, then! (Button)

Malik, Kaiba, Yami, Kura, Radley, and DVD185: (CHANDELIER'D!)

Daricio: Much better. Oh, wait, no, need to start chapter... (Button)

(Divider)

_So, what should we do now?_ Ryou wondered. _Until somebody finds that Zora girl, we're not going to get anywhere in our quest... But there's not really anything else to do around here..._

Bakura mentally shrugged. _Why don't you try out that amulet that you won? I want to see how it works._

Ryou frowned. _You want me to get back in the water, when I'm already cold and dripping wet._

_What better time?_ Bakura shrugged again. _You're already wet, it won't get any worse._

With a groan, Ryou headed for the pool again and jumped back in. He swam out to the middle of the pool where he had been diving for rupees.

This would be the first test; before, Ryou had just barely managed to touch bottom here. Taking a deep breath, he dove, feeling a little surprised when he touched bottom and realized that he wasn't running out of air yet.

So the amulet was helping, somehow. He settled himself on the bottom and rested for a few moments until he felt he needed air, then he kicked to the surface.

He gasped as he broke through the water's surface. _Okay, so how deep can I go, then?_ He kicked over to an area that looked deeper and dove again. Here, he found himself once again able to touch the bottom longer than just a millisecond.

Surprised, he floated back to the surface and headed for an even deeper area. Diving once again, he blinked, realizing that although it was more difficult to touch bottom here, he still could. And besides that, he'd spotted something interesting underwater.

Breaking the surface again, he pointed it out to Bakura. _There appears to be some sort of cave or something down there._

Bakura looked, not saying anything, but obviously surprised. _Not just a cave... There are runes of some sort above the entrance, and they've got magic in them... I think that's a portal._

_I wonder where it leads, then... _Ryou swam as close as he could to it on the surface and then dove again. Barely able to reach the top of the portal, he grabbed the edge and propelled himself into the opening.

There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly, he found himself kicking to the surface again, desperate for air. He reached the surface and gulped in air, then looked around.

Predictably, he was no longer in Zora's Domain. He appeared to be on the edge of a very large, deep lake. The moon was almost directly overhead.

A small island in the center, reachable from the land by a wooden bridge, held a large tree. The bridge led to a second small island, which, annoyingly enough, held a large owl sitting on a rock. It was looking the other way, and Ryou hoped it hadn't noticed him.

From there, the bridge led to the shore, where there was a large, strangely shaped house with a big chimney.

Treading water, Ryou looked back down at the portal where he had come. It looked perfectly innocent to him, but now Ryou knew better.

Splashing to his left drew his attention and he glanced over as a Zora swam up to him. "Hello! I couldn't help but notice that you just came from Zora's Domain. Not many humans come that way, so you must be a Royal Messenger, are you not?"

Ryou blinked. "Well, yeah, kinda. What is this place?"

The Zora smiled at him. "This is Lake Hylia. Over there is the home of a crazy Hylian scientist, over there is the fishing hole, and down at the bottom of the lake is the Water Temple. Only Zoras can enter it, and we use it as a place of worship."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks." Ryou looked around. "What's the fishing hole?"

"It's a Hylian tourist attraction. You pay rupees to rent a fishing pole, and you can fish for a while." The Zora shrugged. "I've never really liked fishing myself... seems boring." He turned and swam off.

"Oh my," Ryou realized something as he watched the Zora disappear under the water. "The Zora are fish people, I hope talk of fishing didn't offend him..."

Bakura shrugged. _Don't know, don't care. While you're here, want to check out that fishing hole?_

Ryou shrugged. _I've always found fishing boring too, and I don't actually eat fish... But I guess if there's nothing else to do..._

_Unless you want to visit the crazy Hylian scientist,_ Bakura smirked.

_Right, let's go._ Ryou began swimming towards the small island on the edge of the lake that the Zora had pointed out.

Movement to his left caught his eye and he stopped. "Wha..."

_What?_ Bakura asked.

Ryou shook his head, treading water. _I could have sworn I just saw that scarecrow over there... dancing..._

Bakura looked. The scarecrow, standing guard over one of two small gardens on the shore, now looked like a perfectly normal scarecrow, swaying slightly in the wind. _You're sure you're all right, Ryou?_

Ryou shrugged, starting to swim again. _I dunno, but I thought_—The scarecrow waved at him. _There! There it was again!_

Bakura blinked, having seen it himself this time. _Well... that's weird._ The scarecrow went back to normal, staring off into the distance and swaying slightly.

Ryou changed his course, this time heading for the scarecrow. _I gotta check this out..._

Quickly, he reached the shore and began wringing water out of his clothes, shivering slightly in the cold wind. Then he walked up to the scarecrow.

"Um, hello?"

The scarecrow's head turned to look at him and a painted smile grew on its wooden face.

Ryou blinked. _I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto..._

Bakura frowned. _What are you talking about? ... And did you just call me Toto?_

_Never mind._ Ryou gave the scarecrow a small smile. "H-hi..."

The mouth on the scarecrow opened. "Yo, dude! Been a while since someone came over here to talk to me! Pleased to meet you, what's your name?"

"Oh, uh..." Ryou hadn't actually expected it to talk. "I'm Ryou."

"RYOU!!!!" It bounced up and down on its stick, spinning around in a sort of a dance. It spun to face him again. "Great to meet you, great to meet you! Say, dude, why don't we have a jam session!"

Ryou blinked again. "Um... jam session?"

The scarecrow grinned. "Yeah, dude! I've got a great memory, and I love testing it out! Just play me a song you know, any song, and I'll remember it for you! Heck, I'll even teach it to my buddy Pierre over there!" It pointed to the second garden, where another scarecrow waved.

"Um..."

"Please? You do have something to play on, don't you, dude? Help me out here!"

Ryou shrugged, reaching into his bag and pulling out the ocarina.

"Heeeeeeey, duuuuude! Awesome ocarina, dude! Play a song, play a song!" the scarecrow did another dance.

Completely at a loss for a song to play, and not exactly being a great composer himself, he played the first thing that came to mind: the first few notes of the Mario theme.

The scarecrow stared at him, the grin still on his face. "Heeeeeey..."

Ryou waited for a moment, then asked, "What?"

"That's a great song, dude! Catchy beat, I'll remember this forever!" it danced a moment longer, then became serious again. "Of course, that's not to say I can only remember 7 notes, but we'll keep it at that for now..."

Ryou shrugged. "Er, okay. Anything else you're wanting?"

It beamed at him. "No, dude, I'm cool. You'll be off, then?"

Ryou nodded. "Bye..."

"Bye, dude!" it continued to dance as he walked away.

(Divider)

Except for the light that came from Navi's glow, the inside of the tomb was pitch black.

Link started to walk forward but Navi stopped him, turning yellow and flying forward. "We're not alone in here," she said softly. She hovered near the ceiling just ahead, where the passageway opened up into a larger room. Her glow illuminated a black Keese, clinging to the wall.

Link scowled, pulling out his slingshot. Had he stepped closer to it, this would have been harder. Quickly, with Navi guiding him, he shot the Keese off the wall.

Walking into the chamber, he looked around. Unexpectedly, there were no coffins or niches in the wall for bodies of the Royal Family... Instead, there were random bones strewn about the floor, stacking up against the walls, as if they'd been haphazardly thrown there.

The room reeked of rotting flesh, and Link could see more Keese hanging out along the walls. Also strange in a place like this was a door on the opposite side of the room, barred shut. Link had come across doors like this before; they usually either meant that a switch somewhere had to be pressed, or all the monsters in the room had to be killed. But why would a door like that be in a tomb?

"This place is weird," Link whispered to Navi. She didn't seem to notice. Instead, she flew about the room, pointing out the various Keese to him so he could kill them easily.

Quickly disposing of them, he put away his slingshot and headed toward the door. The bars had lifted when the last Keese had died, so he was able to get through it.

Inside the next room was an even stranger sight. Pools of what looked like green acid were bubbling in various pits in the center and sides of the room. Smoke or steam rose from them, and looking closely at them revealed more bones of the type found in the room before, submerged in the liquid.

The pits of acid did do one thing: they lit up the room a little, revealing strange figures standing at the edges of the pools.

Link started. He definitely hadn't expected to find people down here. "Hey!" he called out to the nearest one. He took a step forward towards it. "Hello?"

Slowly, the figure lifted its head to look towards him. Link let out a gasp and froze. The thing had no eyes in its sockets. Its face seemed to be made of rotting flesh, and its deformed mouth gaped at him.

It turned in place, its eyes locked with his, and began to take slow, drawn out steps towards him, as if its feet didn't quite know how to work correctly.

This thing obviously wasn't human; not anymore, anyway. Link knew that it was headed for him, probably to attack him for entering this place. And yet he couldn't seem to move. He could feel himself shaking as he stared into the thing's empty eyes, his joints frozen with irrational fear.

"Link, watch out!" Navi flew in his face suddenly, blocking his eye contact with the thing. Abruptly, he felt himself snap out of his stupor and he fell backwards, grabbing over his shoulder for his sword.

"What is that thing?" he asked, scrabbling backwards. Trying to find his feet, and still shaking slightly, he quickly found himself in an isolated corner of the room, far away from any of the figures. The one that had started towards him seemed to have lost interest, and was moving back toward its place at the edge of the pool.

Navi flew in closer, looking Link over. "That is what's called a ReDead. Basically, reanimated corpses, zombies. As you've probably figured out by now, they have the ability to force their prey to feel fear, which makes them freeze. I'd suggest not getting close. And definitely don't make eye contact."

Link shook himself, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the ReDead's stare. "Definitely."

When he had composed himself sufficiently, he pulled out his slingshot again. "Let's see how they like Deku Seeds, then!"

Pulling one out of his bag, he loaded the slingshot, took aim at the ReDead's head, while being careful not to look it in the eyes, and fired off a shot. The seed struck the ReDead's head squarely and its head whipped sideways with a sickening crunch. Then, with an even more sickening sound, it pulled its head back into position and continued staring at the wall. It didn't seem to have minded the shot at all, or even noticed it.

Link scowled. "Well, I'm sure not going to risk getting close to one of those things. I gotta find a way around it..."

Navi floated over to the left hand side of the room. "Link, over here! There's only one of them on this side of the room, and it's closer to the center than to the wall. I'd bet you can sneak past over here."

He got to his feet. "Hopefully." He edged along the wall, trying not to look at the ReDeads at all. Reaching the other end of the chamber, he let out a large breath. "You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that this wasn't meant to be a burial site at all."

"Gee, what was your first hint? The lack of bodies, besides the ReDeads, or the giant pools of acid everywhere?" Navi asked sarcastically. "If those two ghost brothers are any indication, I'd say this is a burial place for that song, so that nobody could get their hands on it..."

Link frowned. "I wonder why. I mean, it's not like it bothers anybody else... That's part of the charm on the song, right?"

Navi shrugged. "Dunno. Magic usually doesn't mess with time, though."

"Hmm." Link shrugged as well, heading for the doorway, still being wary of the many ReDeads in the room.

The next room didn't seem to have any monsters in it at all. Two more pits of acid lined a path that led up to a large block of stone with large words inscribed across the front.

"'This poem is dedicated to the memory of the dearly departed members of the Royal Family._ "The rising sun will eventually set. / A newborn's life will fade. / From sun to moon, moon to sun/ Give peaceful rest to the living dead_".'" Navi read. "That's an interesting poem..."

Link nodded. "Sounds kind of like a description of the song that the composer brothers were talking about."

"Right... So the song should be somewhere around... Ah, it's written over here in the corner." Navi flew over to an edge of the stone, lighting it up so that Link could see it.

Quickly, Link pulled out his ocarina. Squinting to try to decipher the notes scratched into the stone, he began to play.

(Divider)

Ryou stopped dead in his tracks, staring up at the sky. "... Did the moon just fly by at a million miles an hour?"

_What?_ Bakura appeared in temporary physical form, looking around. Then he looked back at his hikari. "What are you talking about?"

Ryou's gaze didn't leave the sky. "... it was... night a second ago... I could have sworn... and the moon... it... like... fell out of the sky, and the sun's rising now."

Bakura looked to the east and noted that the sun was indeed rising. "Yes, we've already noticed that time seems to fly around here, Ryou..."

"But not that fast!" Ryou finally looked down at Bakura, his eyes wide. "I'm serious, the moon was almost in the center of the sky thirty seconds ago, and now it's gone and the sun is rising! I watched it, it flew across the sky!"

Bakura frowned, looking back towards the sun slowly making its way up into the sky as it rose.

(Divider)

"'_Restless souls wander where they don't belong. Bring them calm with the Sun's Song.'_" Navi finished reading the inscription on the stone.

Link looked around. "But did anything actually happen? It's hard to tell, in here..."

Navi looked back towards the entrance. "I dunno... But the Composer Brothers said that the song had the ability to freeze the undead... Maybe it'll work on those ReDeads in there!"

Link grinned. "That'd be cool. Then they wouldn't be able to attack us, and we can get by them more easily."

He stepped away from the stone and headed back down the acid-lined path back into the room where the ReDeads stood guard. Bringing the ocarina to his lips, he played the song again. Immediately, they all turned ghostly pale, the twitching of their limbs suddenly ceasing.

"Yes!" Link walked straight up to one and waved his hand in front of its face. It didn't move.

"Careful, Link... It'll probably wear off after a while." Navi warned.

Link gulped, noticing that color was beginning to fade back into the thing's face, and he fled the room, heading for the main entrance.

(Divider)

Bakura blinked. "What the..."

Ryou pointed wildly at the moon, which was now floating just above the eastern horizon. "There! There! You see? I'm not crazy!"

Bakura stared. "... Did the sun just fly by at a million miles an hour?" he asked, repeating Ryou's question from before.

They both stared at the moon for a long while, almost as if waiting for it, too, to suddenly shoot away.

"Does this happen often around here?" Ryou wondered.

Bakura shrugged. "And I would know this, how? Go ask somebody." He disappeared again.

Ryou turned around and headed back to the scarecrow. "Did... did you see that?"

The scarecrow stared at him for a moment, its painted grin still plastered on its face. "See what, dude?"

Ryou blinked. "The sun going by really fast! What else would I be talking about?"

If the scarecrow could have shrugged, it would have. Instead, it stared at him a little longer, then leaned to one side.

Ryou sighed. "Why am I even asking you?"

"My charming personality?"

Ryou walked away, looking around for the Zora he had seen earlier. Maybe an intelligent being would be able to tell him what was going on.

Not wanting to get back in the water just yet, he followed the shoreline, searching the water. Finally, he spotted the Zora (or at least _a_ Zora, he really couldn't tell if it was the same one or not) swimming a short distance away.

"Hey! Hello, can I talk to you?"

The Zora looked up, blinking at him, then swam over to the shore. "Can I help you?"

Ryou pointed up, confusion written all over his face. "Were you watching the sky just now?"

"Not really. I was swimming. I can kind of see the sky from down there, but only a little. Why?"

"Did you happen to notice the sun going by really fast just a minute ago, then?"

The Zora stared at him. "What? No, the sun's been going at its normal pace, just as it usually does..." He looked up at the sky. "The sun just went down a little while ago, and now it's night. That happens every day." The Zora gave him one last strange look, then swam off.

Ryou sighed. "Thanks. You're a big help." _Now everybody thinks I'm crazy..._

Bakura mentally shrugged. _No, just that Zora and the stupid scarecrow. But that does seem to confirm something... Nobody else seems to have noticed anything out of the ordinary._

_But why?_ Ryou asked in exasperation, sitting on a rock by the water.

_Actually, I think I might have an explanation for that. Right as you started yelling about the moon flying by, I felt a strange wash of magic flowing everywhere, kind of a notice-me-not spell..._

Ryou blinked. _Then why did we notice it? Did you negate the spell?_

Bakura mentally shook his head. _I didn't do anything. That spell was obviously meant to cover the sun flying by, or rather, a time speed-up, but for some reason, it had no effect on us..._

Ryou thought about this for a moment. _Maybe the spell didn't work on us because we're not actually from this world...?_

_Why wouldn't it? The other spells in this world work on us just fine._ Bakura mentally shrugged again. _Maybe Link would be able to explain it..._

Ryou sighed. _That would help, if we could actually talk to Link..._

_Well, we can,_ Bakura said. _Let's see just how well that song Saria taught us works..._

Now Ryou's eyes lit up as he realized what Bakura was talking about. "Oh, right!" he fumbled in his bag and pulled out his ocarina. Quickly bringing it to his lips, he played Saria's Song.

Instantly, a list appeared, superimposed on top of his vision in the same way the fingerings for the songs did. Everything in the list was written in Hylian, which Ryou obviously couldn't read.

He was about to point this out in annoyance to Bakura, when the letters suddenly flickered, translating themselves into English for him. He sighed in relief.

The text at the top now read, "Who would you like to speak with?" The rest of the list consisted of several different names. "Saria, Bakura, Link, Navi." At the bottom was a small note that said, "Sorry for the language mix-up..."

_Polite,_ Bakura commented, reading the list through Ryou's eyes.

A new note appeared at the bottom, replacing the last one, saying, "Thank you."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. _Right, anyway... We want to talk to Link._

"Connecting..." the list of names disappeared, replaced with, after a moment, an image of Link, looking confused.

"Hello?"

(Divider)

Link finally made his way to the entrance of the tomb area and stepped into the beam of light that was streaming from the hole above him. The platform below him glowed for a moment, and then he found himself being lifted gently into the air until he was back at the surface.

The graveyard looked the same as it had before; just as dark and creepy. "Right, I played the song twice, so it's night again..." he muttered to himself.

"You played the song_twice_?!" a voice from beside him yelped. Link turned to see Sharp glaring at him. "That's dangerous! And how did you get through there alive, anyway?"

Link blinked. "So you admit that the tomb was meant to kill people?"

Sharp glared again and Flat appeared beside him. "The tomb was meant to guard the Sun's Song from people like you who would sit there and ignorantly play it over and over."

"What's wrong with playing the song?" Link asked, a little angry. "You said yourself, nobody else would even notice time being sped up, so it doesn't hurt anyone."

Flat shook his head. "It doesn't hurt anyone, per say, but it does disrupt the time flow. Throwing the world from morning to night and back again can get messy... Only somebody who's immune to paradox, like the Hero of Time, for instance, could be able to use the song consistently without everything falling apart... It's a miracle that it's worked the last few times you've used it."

Link shook his head. "Then why did you create a song like that?"

Sharp glared at him again. "The King asked us to, that's why. Supposedly, it would be for the use of the Hero of Time, whenever he shows up... Not for some brat like you!"

Now Link glared. "All right, all right, I won't use it very often. Just when I need it. Happy now?"

Sharp didn't look convinced. "Fine, just keep the stupid song. If you destroy the universe, though, it's your fault, not ours."

The two ghosts disappeared again.

"Well... that's ominous..." Navi remarked. Link rolled his eyes.

"It'll be fine... It worked perfectly the first few times we've used it, no mass destruction or anything happened then." Link was more trying to convince himself than Navi. "I mean, we should be able to use it without any-"

He was interrupted by the sudden, muffled sound of Saria's Song coming from inside his bag. He blinked, looking down at it. "What the...?"

"Link! It must be Ryou! Quick, get your ocarina!" Navi exclaimed.

"Oh!" Link grabbed at his bag, pulling it open and rummaging around until he came across his ocarina. The moment his hand closed around it, an image of Ryou appeared, superimposed over his vision.

Blinking a few times, unsure exactly how the song worked, he asked tentatively, "Hello?"

Ryou grinned. "Hey, it worked! How's it going where you are, Link?"

"Pretty good." Link answered. "I mean, well, quest-wise I've gotten nowhere... I've been running around in Kakariko, gathering information and whatnot. What about you?"

Ryou shrugged. "Well, I talked to King Zora, but I don't think he's quite all there in the head... He kept mumbling something about his daughter being missing, so I guess I have to help find her before I can get anywhere with the king. So I've been hanging around Lake Hylia, testing out this amulet I got..."

Suddenly, an image of Bakura appeared next to Ryou in Link's vision. "You know, there's a reason we called, Ryou, and chit-chatting wasn't it."

Ryou looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, right. Um, Link? You wouldn't happen to know anything about the sun and the moon flying by really fast, would you? I mean, nobody else seemed to notice it, and it's really weird..."

Link stared. "You mean you noticed it? But there's supposed to be a spell on it that keeps people from noticing!"

From behind him, Link heard a mumble about the spell working just fine thank you very much, but Link ignored it.

Bakura blinked at him. "Hang on, so _you're_ the one who did that?"

"Kind of. A couple of weirdo ghosts in the Kakariko graveyard were hiding something called the Sun's Song." Link was aware that said weirdo ghosts were glaring at his back, but he just smirked and ignored them. "It can control the time of day, plus has some light magic that's used to freeze the undead."

"Don't forget the other part!" Sharp called with a frown. "Especially if you're about to do what I think you're about to do and go and teach whoever you're talking to that song!"

Link shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, and apparently, spells that mess with time are dangerous and _supposedly_ can destroy the universe, but it seems to work fine to me."

Sharp continued to glare at him. Link decided that leaving the graveyard before he was killed by ghosts, which would be highly embarrassing, would be a good idea. He began to walk out of the graveyard, Ryou and Bakura still superimposed over his vision, but not enough to block out what he was seeing completely. Navi flew in front of him to light his way.

"Who was that, anyway?" Bakura asked curiously. "I could hear somebody else, but I still only see you and Ryou."

Link smirked. "That was the weirdo ghost. His name's Sharp, and the other one's Flat. They're some sort of legendary composer brothers or something."

"Oh." Ryou blinked. "What were you doing in a graveyard in the first place?"

Link reached down and pulled one of the Gold Skulltula tokens out of his bag. "Looking for these things."

"Those token things?" Ryou frowned, reaching down and pulling the one he had found out of his bag. "Yeah, I found one. Bakura says the magic on it is weird. Do you know what they are?"

Link nodded, then told Ryou about Reuel and the Skulltula Family. "So one of the spiders was in the graveyard, so I was trying to get it," Link concluded. "Then I ran into the ghosts."

"Ah. Okay..." Ryou frowned at his token, then put it away. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the spiders, then."

"Great."

Bakura seemed to be looking up at the sky. "Say, Link... You wanna turn it day over here? It's a lot easier to explore when it's not dark."

Link grinned. "Well, Sharp and Flat don't like it, but sure. Here, I'll teach you guys the song too." He pulled the ocarina, which he was already holding onto to keep his connection with Ryou, up to his lips and played the Sun's Song again.

Abruptly, the moon dropped out of the sky and the sun rose to take its place.

Ryou stared upward, and Bakura frowned a little at Link. "And there was that spell again... It's meant to make people not notice the time speed-up, but it doesn't seem to affect us at all..."

Link shrugged. "Maybe it's because we have the same ocarina?"

Ryou looked back down at Link, then turned to Bakura. "Actually, that might be it. The spell must be designed not to affect the person playing it, and because our ocarina is the same as Link's, which played the song, we weren't affected by the spell either."

Bakura nodded curtly. "Perhaps... Ryou, did the ocarina remember the fingerings for the song?"

He looked back at his ocarina. "I'm not sure. I think it requires me to play it back first, then it'll remember it."

"All right, then do that."

Ryou closed his eyes and played the Sun's Song.

Abruptly, night fell. Hard.

Bakura shivered slightly, looking around. "That was odd... something wasn't quite right that time..."

Ryou opened his eyes, also glancing around. "I felt it too, like everything was shaking for a moment..."

Link frowned, looking a little nervous. "Sharp did say that the song was dangerous to people who couldn't use time magic, or something like that..."

"But it worked just fine when you were playing it..." Bakura noted.

"I dunno..." Link wasn't sure. "Maybe it only did that because it got played too many times in a row or something...?"

Bakura shrugged. "It's night again. I want it to be day."

Link sighed. "Okay, but if the universe falls apart, I'm blaming you." He played the Sun's Song again.

Abruptly, it was dawn again.

Bakura nodded to himself. "It worked just fine that time, so it had nothing to do with it being played too many times... The song just works better for you."

Link frowned up at the sky. "I don't see why, though..."

(Divider)

Ryou let the ocarina drop back into his bag, closing the conversation with Link after saying goodbye. "Well, there's one mystery explained, anyway..."

_We still haven't solved the mystery of that missing Zora girl, though_, Bakura grumbled. _And I doubt we'll get anywhere with it. None of the other Zoras seem to have even noticed that she's missing._

Ryou shrugged. "Well, maybe we should just head back to Zora's Domain. I mean, we didn't actually do any asking around about her..."

Bakura mentally shrugged. _Well, it'll be something to do, so we can pretend to be doing something productive..._

Ryou rolled his eyes and headed back towards the portal to Zora's Domain. Jumping back in the water again, shivering at the temperature, Ryou started to dive to reach the passage.

And then he resurfaced, blinking water out of his eyes and peering down at the bottom of the lake.

_What are you doing?_ Bakura asked, looking out through Ryou's eyes. _Is something wrong?_

_Look, the bottom's littered with rupees!_ Ryou noted. _Lots of them... They must have washed down here from Zora's Domain..._

_I thought that guy at the top of the waterfall said he always went and fetched the rupees after his diving games... _Bakura mused.

Ryou grinned._Apparently not. Hang on, let me grab them real quick. It's always good to have a little money around._

Bakura mentally rolled his eyes. _Even if it does grow on trees around here..._

Ignoring this, Ryou dove to grab the rupees, filling his pockets with the shiny gems. When about half of the rupees on the bottom had been picked up, he noticed something else down there as well and dove to grab it.

Surfacing with the object, he looked it over. _Hey, Bakura, look at this. It's a bottle of some sort..._

Bakura mentally shrugged. _So?_ He looked it over too. _It looks like it has a note inside._

Ryou frowned at it._Letter in a bottle. How clichéd._ He swam over to a place that was shallow enough for him to stand in, then began trying to pry the cork off the top. When it finally came free, he shook the note out, then carefully unfolded it.

"Help me. I'm waiting for you inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's Belly. –Ruto. P.S. Don't tell my father."

Ryou blinked at it.

(Divider)

After getting directions from a lady who was whining about her lost Cuccos, then tripping over one of said Cuccos on his way there, Link ended up at the trailhead to Death Mountain. There was a gate in his way.

At the gate, there was a guard standing at attention. Link walked up to him. "Excuse me, can I go through?"

The guard raised an eyebrow at him. "You. A kid. Going up there to get yourself killed. That's a joke."

"That may be so, but you obviously didn't find it too funny. Can I go through now?"

"Can't you read, kid?" the guard pointed at a sign on the other side of the gate. "No one goes through without royal permission. It's too dangerous up there, with the mountain erupting and all."

Link looked skeptically at the peaceful looking mountain. "Erupting."

Birds twittered in the distance. "Yup."

Link sighed. "Then it's a good thing I have royal permission, then, isn't it?"

The guard almost smiled. "Real funny, kid."

"I'm serious!" Link pulled out the letter from Zelda and handed it over proudly.

He looked it over, one eyebrow still raised. "This is Link. He is under my orders to save Hyrule. –Princess Zelda." The guard looked up from the letter and stared at Link. "You can't be serious..."

Link glared up at him, frowning when he realized just how ridiculous that sounded. Zelda couldn't have come up with something a little more convincing? "You going to let me through, or not?" he asked.

The guard shrugged. "Well, since it seems to be the Princess' new pastime to send little kids off to their deaths, I suppose I have to." He banged his spear on the ground, which signaled another guard somewhere to open the gate.

Link was somewhat offended by the little kid comment, but decided that he didn't feel like explaining about being a Kokiri, so he let it slide.

The guard addressed Link again. "If you follow the trail, you'll find Dodongo's cavern and Goron City. Don't go in the cavern if you don't want to die. The Gorons don't look too promising either. And stay out of the crater, or you'll fry. Have a nice day." He went back to his post.

Link stared at him. The guard glanced at him. "If you don't move, kid, I'll change my mind."

Link skedaddled.

(Divider)

"Oh my poor dear Princess Ruto," the King moaned. "Wherever could she be? We've looked everywhere, and there's absolutely no trace of her!"

Ryou groaned. "If you'll just actually listen to me for just one second, I-"

"Oooooh, poor Ruto... Where is she?" the King whined.

Fed up, Bakura took control, pulled the bottle out of his pack, yanked the letter out of it, and held it up, waving it slightly. "I KNOW WHERE SHE IS, YOU IDIOT!!" he snarled.

The King seemed startled to see him there, and for once actually acknowledged his presence. "What?"

"I found a letter in a bottle from Princess Ruto, telling where she is." Bakura glared at him. "Would you like to see it, or should I leave?"

"A letter? From Ruto?" the King looked excited now. "Let me see it!"

Bakura smirked. "Now that we have your attention, maybe you can answer some questions for us. Where is the spiritual stone of water?"

The King's eyes were fixed on the letter. "...You have news of Ruto?"

Bakura sighed. "Figures..." he muttered. "He's too stupid to negotiate with." Rolling his eyes, he put the letter into the bottle and tossed it to the King, who caught it mostly out of reflex.

Quickly, he pulled the letter back out and read it over. "Hmmm... So Ruto's inside Lord Jabu-Jabu? That's not possible! Our Guardian god, Lord Jabu-Jabu would never eat my dear Princess Ruto!"

"Well, you wanted an answer, and I gave you one," Bakura said dryly. "Now are you going to send someone in to look for her, or not?"

The King looked reflective. "Although... Ever since that stranger Ganondorf came around, Lord Jabu-Jabu has been looking a little green around the gills..."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "So Ganondorf _has_ been looking for the spiritual stones..."

"The evidence is clear!" the King exclaimed suddenly, brightening. "You will look for her, of course..."

"Wait, what?" Bakura frowned. "I'm not going on some stupid rescue trip, I came here to ask you about the Spiritual Stone."

"You can pass through here to the alter of Lord Jabu-Jabu," the King continued as though he had not heard Bakura. "As a reward for looking for her, you can keep the bottle the letter came in. Please find my dear Princess Ruto immediately!"

The King tossed Bakura the bottle, then began the long, tedious process of moving himself out of the way of the gate leading to Jabu-Jabu's alter.

"But wait!" Bakura said, catching the bottle. "I just told you..." But he trailed off, realizing that the King had stopped listening to him a long time ago.

"Fine," he grumbled, stuffing the bottle into his bag and going around to the gate. "Maybe if we find Ruto, he'll come to his senses and we can negotiate with him..."

'_And if he doesn't come to his senses?_' Ryou asked.

Bakura shrugged. '_Then we'll talk to Princess Ruto herself. She's part of the royal family too, she'll know where it's kept._'

'_... And what if she doesn't want to negotiate with us either?_'

'_We're going to go save her life. She'll negotiate. And if she doesn't, we'll just steal it._'

'_...Right._'

(Divider)

Daricio: I was going to have another Link point of view here, with him getting to Goron City and all, but I have decided to attempt that another time. ... A looooong time in the future, probably, considering my current obsession with Bleach, plus the little to no contact with DVD, plus Link being boring.

Malik: Those are still horrible excu-

Daricio: SO ANYWAY, here's this part anyway. And, by the way, if you like Bleach, go read my Feeling Hollow story. u.u It has Hichigo in it. It's awesome.

Malik: ... I'm not even going to comment on that. (shakes head)


	7. In Which Time Really Flies

I abandoned this story. I wrote most of it a long time ago, back when I was overly hyper, my grammar was terrible and I still had 'muses' I talked to all the time. (As you have noticed from previous chapters.) And I wasn't going to write it any more. It was done.

It has been almost _two years_ since I last updated.

And then I mentioned it to my room mate, Katie, and we came up with lots of ideas for the story. Lots. Actual _serious_ ideas instead of just goofing off, like I always did with DVD. Mostly having to do with the events that take place during the seven year gap.

I really wish I had enough time to write all of the ideas that we have, but I don't.

But I wanted to write something for it anyway. I made several attempts at starting this chapter before I finally came to the conclusion that the main thing that was holding me up on completing it (besides a sheer lack of time to be writing anything at all), was that I was bored with the point of the story where I was, and that what I really wanted to be writing was the bit later on.

So, instead of going through the whole story, I'm skipping part of it. Here are summaries of the skipped parts:

Link goes and saves the Gorons by completing Dodongo's Caverns, and he gets the spiritual stone of fire. You get how that goes; nothing's different.

Ryou finishes saving Zora's Domain from the evil within Lord Jabu Jabu, and he gets the spiritual stone of water. You pretty much get how that goes, too; the only thing that's different is that Ryou refuses to carry Ruto around. XD Bakura pushes all the switches and stuff that you normally need Ruto for. Ruto follows Ryou around rather indignantly, and so the whole engagement thing still happens. Poor Ryou. (Poor Bakura, too: she doesn't know there's a difference between them.)

Ryou actually completes his part of the quest before Link does, because Link went on so many random side quests in Kakariko before heading up the mountain, so Ryou goes to Lon Lon Ranch to wait for him to get done, and to visit Malon. Malon teaches him Epona's song while he's there.

Then, when Link's done, he calls Ryou using Saria's song, and they meet up again in Hyrule Field. As they approach Castle Town, there's that bit with Zelda escaping with Impa and throwing Link the Ocarina of Time, and then Ganondorf shows up. That also goes pretty much the same as in the game.

So, now they're going to the Temple of Time. Sorry for that huge jump in events, but this is to prevent the story from merely dying.

* * *

The temple was almost deathly quiet when the two boys stepped inside, their footsteps resonating hauntingly through the single, large room. Anxiously, they looked around, trying to determine whether or not it was safe to continue.

When it became fairly obvious that there was no one else around, they both let out sighs of relief. "Good, Ganondorf didn't think to send anybody in here," Ryou breathed thankfully.

Link nodded with a grim expression and began walking towards the altar on the far end of the room. Navi flew quickly over to check it out as well, her inner glow lighting up the inscriptions carved into the stone.

"Hang on a second," Bakura called to Link, appearing in his physical form. The Millennium Ring glowed as he stalked around the borders of the room, checking every corner for magical influence. Finally, he stopped at the altar itself. "Fine. No traps, as far as I can tell. It should be okay."

Navi huffed at him. "I could have told you that."

Bakura scowled back. "And just how many traps have you already led Link straight into?" he demanded.

"Shut up," Navi sniffed.

Ryou and Link ignored their arguing and hurried to the altar. "So, now what?" Ryou asked.

Link was already digging in his bag for the spiritual stones he had collected. "The stones, along with the ocarina and that song, should open the door to the Sacred Realm."

"Right. Then we can get to the Triforce before Ganondorf does." Ryou pulled out the spiritual stone of water and held it out for Link to take.

Bakura was keeping his attention on the entrance to the temple suspiciously. "Yeah, let's hope it actually goes that smoothly. Something's still not right, here. If that had been me, I'd have never let us go so easily."

"Then let's move quickly," Link urged. He held the other two spiritual stones up towards the altar, and all three of them sailed out of their hands and into the air. They emitted a flash of light and then descended to hover just above the three grooves within the altar, rotating slowly with a soft hum.

Ryou blinked at it. "That's cool," he commented.

"Hurry up and play that song," Bakura snapped irritably. "We don't have much time, and I don't like this place."

"Right." Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time, paused a moment to let the notes come to him, and then began to play the Song of Time.

The three spiritual stones began to glow softly, their light increasing with each note that Link played until Ryou had to squint just to look at them. Even the song itself seemed amplified, almost as if Link had a backup choir of some sort as he played along.

When the last notes faded away, the stones released their newfound glow, flooding the temple with light as a symbol of the Triforce above the door lit up. Link and Ryou winced, shielding their faces, and Bakura flinched visibly, taking several steps back. There was a grinding noise, and the Door of Time began to slide open, revealing another chamber beyond.

For a long moment, nobody moved, instead staring, transfixed, at the open door.

"Is... is that...?" Ryou finally spoke.

Link started forward, stashing the ocarina back into his bag. "The entrance to the Sacred Realm! It's gotta be! Come on!"

Bakura frowned. "Link, wait! Be cautious. Make sure there aren't any-"

Navi flew into his face, flashing warningly. "There aren't any traps in _there_, moron! That door's never been opened before!"

"As far as you know!" Bakura said emphatically. "We don't know how strong the enchantments on that door are, and for all we know, someone could have-"

"Guys, quit arguing and get in here!" Link called back to them. "Check it out!"

Ryou hurried in. "What? What's there?"

"It's a sword!"

Navi flew past them, streaking into the room to check it out for herself. Bakura caught up to Link and Ryou, looking somewhat put off. He glanced around, taking everything in.

Navi was currently fluttering around a pedestal that stood in the very center of the room. Embedded in the pedestal, illuminated by colored light that was filtering in from a single, stained-glass window high above them, was a blue and gold sword.

"It... It's not just any sword," Navi informed them, her voice filled with awe. "This is that legendary blade, the Master Sword!"

Bakura looked bored. "The what, now? What about the Triforce?"

Link stepped up onto the low platform that held the pedestal and began walking slowly towards the sword. "The Master Sword?" he asked Navi. "Really?"

Navi nodded hard. "It is! This is the legendary sword of the Hero of Time, the Sword of Evil's Bane!"

"Sounds Legendary," Bakura noted sarcastically. "How do we get to the Sacred Realm and get the Triforce?"

"Give me a minute!" Navi snapped back at him. "The Master Sword isn't something you just ignore! This is important!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "So is the Triforce. Where is it?"

"Bakura, knock it off," Ryou sighed, also getting up onto the platform. "Look, Ganondorf doesn't know we're here. We've got time."

Bakura scowled. "We don't know that. There's something not right with all of this."

Link was ignoring Bakura's protests. "Maybe the sword itself has something to do with the Triforce. Look, the pedestal has the Triforce engraved on it, and the platform up here's got the Triforce on it, too."

Ryou crouched down, examining the pedestal. "He's right. Maybe if we pull the sword out of the pedestal?"

Navi shrugged. "Only the Hero of Time can do that," she warned.

"Oh. So, it's a 'he who pulleth this sword from this stone becometh king of all England' sort of deal?" Ryou asked jokingly.

Link and Navi stared at him in confusion. "What? King of what, now?"

Ryou laughed nervously. "Eh, never mind. Old legend where I come from. So, you going to try pulling the sword?"

Link shrugged. "I guess so." He turned back towards it and rubbed his hands, preparing himself.

Bakura scoffed, leaning against the wall of the room. "Wait, _you're_ going to pull it out? That sword's nearly taller than you are! Let Ryou do it."

Ryou shook his head. "Nah, I know _I'm_ no hero. And I am supposed to be helping 'the hero'. Who's to say that's not Link?"

Bakura just shook his head. "This is ridiculous."

Link ignored him, grabbing the hilt and stepping up onto the pedestal itself to get some leverage. For a moment, he paused, taking a deep breath. Then, in one swift motion, he yanked the sword up and out of the pedestal.

Abruptly, the mark of the Triforce on the platform began to glow a deep blue.

Bakura grinned as a rush of magic flowed over them all, and he stood straight again, beginning to walk towards them. "Here it comes!" he called over the sudden rush of sound.

Ryou looked nervously down at the glowing Triforce mark underneath his feet. "Um. M-maybe I should get down?" he stammered.

But then, it was too late. The blue light spread out, encompassing the entire platform and then shooting upwards, creating a column of burning blue, blinding them all instantly.

All around, there was nothing but blue. Someone screamed. There was a sharp cracking noise. And then everything faded away.

* * *

"Bakura? Bakura, are you all right? Bakura?"

Ryou groaned, reaching up to grip his throbbing head, keeping his eyes squinted closed. Someone was holding onto his shoulders, supporting him in a standing position, and shaking him lightly.

"Bakura?" whoever it was asked again.

Slowly, Ryou opened his eyes and looked up. He was startled to find a pair of blood-red eyes very close to his own, and he flinched backwards with a short cry, nearly falling.

The person supporting him steadied him again. "Are you all right?" he repeated.

Ryou looked around quickly, trying to determine exactly where he was. He appeared to be in the Temple of Time, still back in that chamber beyond the door that had opened before. So, he couldn't have been unconscious long. Though, why he was still standing was beyond him.

He glanced back at the young man who was hanging on to him. "I... I'm fine," he said. For some reason, his voice sounded somewhat muffled, but he continued. "Y-you can let go now."

Looking unsure, the young man let go and stepped back, and Ryou was able to get a good look at him. He was wearing what looked like a skin-tight blue outfit with a white piece of cloth draped around his shoulders and pulled up over the lower half of his face. The part that fell across his chest was decorated with the symbol of a large, bleeding eye. Wraps around his head nearly obscured his short-cropped blonde hair, which fell just long enough to hide most of the rest of his face.

"You're sure you're all right, Bakura?" he asked again, sounding concerned.

Ryou nodded, wondering suddenly how the other boy knew his name. "I think so. Head hurts a bit. What... what happened?"

"I was kind of hoping you could tell me." The teen shrugged. "You walked in here and collapsed."

Ryou frowned. "Walked in? But that doesn't make any... Where's Link?" He glanced around the area again.

The other boy just watched him curiously. "Hasn't woken up yet. Should be soon, though."

"Okay." Ryou's frown deepened as he tried to puzzle through that one. Unable to make much sense of it, he asked the next obvious question. "All right. So. Who are you?"

The boy's expression changed, as far as Ryou could tell, to one of confusion and suspicion. "What are you talking about? Why-" He cut off as a look of dawning understanding crossed his face. "Wait... Ryou?"

Slowly, Ryou nodded. "Yeah, that's my name."

"Oh! I'm sorry. That makes more sense now." The boy coughed and tried to look composed. "I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah. Nice to finally meet you."

Ryou nodded again, giving him a hesitant smile. "Nice to meet you too, I suppose."

Sheik's next question threw Ryou off again: "How's Bakura?" he asked seriously.

Ryou stared at him. "Um... I don't really... What?"

"Bakura," Sheik repeated slowly. "How is he?"

Awkwardly, Ryou cleared his throat. "I-I don't think you understand. My name is Ryou Bakura. Both names are..." he trailed off nervously.

Sheik looked unsure of himself, one hand half raised as he examined Ryou carefully again. Finally, he gestured down at Ryou's chest. "No, I mean... Bakura. How's Bakura?"

Still very confused, Ryou looked down to see what Sheik was pointing at. But besides the fact that Ryou seemed to be wearing some very unusual, dark blue clothing, the only thing there was the Millennium Ring on its normal cord.

It hit him suddenly what Sheik was referring to, and he glanced up at him in surprise. "W-wait, you know about Bakura? But _nobody_ knows about... How do you know him?"

Sheik still looked uncertain. "Ryou... You've been... unconscious for a while."

Ryou gave that some time to sink in, and then he let himself drop to the floor, burying his head in both hands with a groan. "Oh, no. No, no, not again..."

"Ryou? Ryou, hang on, calm down." Sheik was suddenly right beside him, his hands on Ryou's shoulders. "I know this is a bit unusual, but-"

Ryou interrupted him with a slightly hysterical laugh, still not looking up. "Unusual?! No, see, the _problem_ is that this _isn't_ unusual! He promised this wouldn't happen again!" He moaned. "He promised!"

"Ryou, it wasn't his fault. Let me explain."

Ryou stared back up at Sheik with a haunted expression. "How long?" he asked, almost dreading the answer.

Sheik hesitated. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out until I can explain, okay?"

"How long?" Ryou simply asked again.

There was a long, awkward pause. Finally, Sheik sighed. "Ryou, it's been... It's been seven years."

Ryou gaped at him. "Seven _years_?! But that's not – I can't be – No, that's not-" Ryou took several short breaths, trying to take in this new information. "Years? But that's-! He wouldn't-! Not even-! Augh!"

Sheik was trying hard to calm Ryou down. "Ryou. Ryou, it's not what you think. Bakura was only-"

Ryou waved him off. "E-excuse me for a moment." He leaned his arms against his knees and put his head down on top of them, then he retreated to his soul room. One thing was certain: he had to talk to Bakura about this.

Soon he was storming down the main hallway between his and Bakura's soul rooms, thankfully back in his own clothes now that he was in his own head. Bakura's soul room door was slightly ajar, so Ryou didn't bother knocking before going in.

The room seemed a lot tidier than it had been the last time he'd been in here, though of course shadows still lingered in every corner. Bakura himself was lying against the wall opposite the door, wearing what looked like a variation of the outfit Sheik had, along with a dark blue cloak. He looked as though he'd been thrown against the wall rather violently.

Pushing aside a sudden worry for Bakura's well being, Ryou quickly crossed the room, took hold of Bakura's shoulders, and jerked him up into a sitting position. Bakura groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Wha?"

"Seven _years_, Bakura!" Ryou ranted. "_Seven years_! You said this wouldn't-"

Bakura groaned again, bringing one hand up to hold his head. "Quit yelling, Ryou. Not so loud," he said quietly. "What in the..." He seemed to notice, suddenly, that Ryou was there, because he looked up in surprise. "Ryou? Ryou! You're back! Thank _Din,_ you're back!"

Ryou's eyes widened in shock as Bakura abruptly threw his arms around him and hugged him. For a moment, he didn't move, not quite sure what to do. Then, he shoved Bakura away. "Hey, wait, hold it! I'm not done freaking out over the last bit! I'm not ready to deal with you being huggy all of a sudden! What in the world is going on, Bakura?!"

Bakura backed off. "Sorry. I just haven't _seen_ you for seven years."

Ryou sputtered at him. "A-And whose fault is that?!"

"Huh?" Bakura's eyebrows knit in confusion, and he was probably frowning under the face mask he wore. Then he seemed to get what Ryou was talking about. He gave a short laugh. "Oh. Actually, for once, I had nothing to do with this. See, you remember Link pulled the Master Sword, right?"

Slowly, Ryou nodded. "And then I woke up here."

Bakura nodded as well. "Right. Well, when _I_ woke up, you were gone. Then there was this Sheikah named Riplakish, and, well—You know, this'll be easier if I just let you see my memories of it all."

Ryou took a step back with a frown. "Bakura, if you try to send me seven years worth of memories all at once, my brain will break."

"Oh. Right." Bakura contemplated this. "Well, just the first bit, anyway, so that you'll believe me when I tell you."

Ryou still looked unsure, but eventually he nodded. "All right, I suppose."

Bakura held up a hand in front of Ryou's face and closed his eyes. "Okay. This is the first thing I remember right after that blue light from Link pulling that sword."

* * *

Darkness. All around, there was darkness. After the blinding, painful light that had been burning through me, though, darkness was welcome, especially after the two additional hits to the head I had somehow taken in the middle of all that.

Slowly, I became aware that I was sitting up against something, probably a wall. My head was throbbing, but through that I began to register voices near me. I was instantly alert, trying to take in my surroundings as quickly as possible and starting to get to my feet.

I was still in the Temple of Time, though instead of being in the back chamber where that stupid sword had been, I was in front of the Door of Time, which was closed again. Apparently, I'd been forced out of the room somehow, and until just a moment ago, I'd been sitting up against the back of the altar.

I could hear the hum of the spiritual stones, so they were obviously still in their slots on the altar. I guessed that if I wanted the door open again, I'd have to play the Song of Time again.

Standing near me, I noticed a split second later, were two people: a man and a small boy, both wearing very strange blue clothing with white cloth that almost looked like bandages effectively covering most of their faces. The man seemed to have noticed that I was awake, because he began to walk quickly towards me.

I watched him suspiciously, trying to decide if I needed to pull a Ryou, or if he was going to fight me. He stopped a short distance away and began examining me critically, his eyes narrowing.

Finally, he spoke. "You are not Ryou," he informed me.

I couldn't help but stare in slight surprise that he had somehow noticed this, but that wasn't the important part just then. How did he know Ryou in the first place?

"Who are you?" I demanded.

He answered without missing a beat. "I am Riplakish, survivor of the Sheikah. Who are you?"

I frowned at him, not about to give him any answers he didn't already have before I'd gotten my own questions answered. "I'm Ryou Bakura. How do you know me?"

He watched me without answering for a long moment, and then turned to glance at the boy behind him. In response, the boy softly shook his head, gazing at me curiously.

Before I could even begin to wonder what that meant, or what the boy was doing there in the first place, Riplakish turned back to me again. "You are not Ryou," he repeated. "Who are you?"

"I _am_ Ryou," I insisted. "What gives you the right to be questioning me, anyway?"

Riplakish pondered this for a moment, as if deciding whether or not it was worth telling me, and then answered. "Impa, leader of the Sheikah, sent me here to protect Ryou. You are not him. Who are you, and where is he?"

I frowned. "Impa? Zelda's attendant? She's your leader?"

Riplakish nodded, but didn't say anything more.

Well, that at least made a little bit of sense. Impa saw us as she left with Zelda, so it'd make sense for her to send someone to see if we made it out okay. Still, why send protection for Ryou and not for Link?

I decided I'd better make sure. "How do I know Impa sent you? For all I know, you're just one of Ganondorf's minions."

It was hard to read Riplakish's expressions through the facemask that he wore, but it was easy to tell that the question offended him. Without a word, he reached down and began looking through a bag, pulling out what looked like a short, wooden recorder. He tugged the facemask down to his chin and began to play.

I quickly recognized the notes to Zelda's Lullaby and waved at him to stop. "All right, all right." Only messengers of the royal family could learn that song, so it was pretty safe to assume that Impa really had sent him. Still... "Why send protection for me, and not for Link? Where is he, anyway?"

Riplakish had replaced his facemask by now, and his expression was once again nearly unreadable. "Link no longer requires protection," he answered in a monotone. "You have not answered my question. Who are you? Do you have proof that _you_ do not work for Ganondorf?"

I considered my options for a moment, then simply grabbed Ryou's bag, pulling out his ocarina. It almost seemed silly to play the same song back at him, but then, the song did have magic, so it would be proof. Starting at exactly the place Riplakish had left off, I played the rest of Zelda's Lullaby for him.

Riplakish finally relaxed a bit. Not much, but enough so that his posture wasn't practically screaming "I'll kill you" at me. The little boy who was with him relaxed as well, looking almost sleepy, although he continued staring at me curiously.

It was enough to draw my attention to him, and I was about to ask Riplakish who he was when the older Sheikah interrupted me, repeating his questions again. "Who are you, and where is Ryou?"

The questions had been asked often enough to irritate me, now, and I rolled my eyes as I stashed the ocarina back in Ryou's bag. Ryou was obviously unconscious, or else I wouldn't have been in control when I woke up, but it was about time to go wake him up and let _him_ deal with this.

Waving off Riplakish's annoying questions, I put my head down and mentally dropped down into the hallway between our soul rooms. Automatically, I turned to enter Ryou's room.

Only to stop abruptly and gape at the scene before me: Where Ryou's soul room door should have been, there was instead a solid wall of blue, flaming light.

"Holy... That's that same stupid light from before!" I exclaimed, reaching out to touch it.

Immediately, I jerked my hand backward as pain shot through it. Light spell. The whole thing was one enormous light spell.

Getting as close to it as I could, I tried to peer past the light into the room itself. Was Ryou in there? Could he see me?

But no. There was nothing but emptiness beyond the light, though whether it was white or black, I couldn't tell. Absolutely nothing. Ryou was gone.

What was going on here? Link pulled that sword out of the pedestal, and everything erupted into blue light, and now both of them were gone, and I had that same blue light in my head instead of Ryou. How did that make any sense? If they were taken somewhere, how had I gotten left behind? This was Ryou's body, how could he not be in it while I was?

The last thing Ryou had said suddenly ran through my head: Maybe I should get down.

Was that it? Had I gotten left behind somehow because I was the only one not stupid enough to be standing on the platform when the whole thing had exploded?!

Angry and confused, I sent a burst of shadows at the wall of light, which, of course, did nothing to it. It didn't even waver a little. Whatever this light magic was, it was powerful.

One of the Sheikah outside was shaking me lightly, and I returned to full control of Ryou's body, struggling to get to my feet. I was forced to stop abruptly as a headache of massive proportions suddenly split through my head. Involuntarily, I let out a hiss, bringing one hand up to apply pressure to the spot where the pain was focused.

"Here." I looked up to find that Riplakish was holding out a bottle full of red liquid towards me.

Suspiciously, I took the bottle, examining the contents carefully, both physically and magically. It wasn't anything I'd seen before, but the only spells on it seemed to be healing-based. "What is it?"

He gave me a strange look, as though I should know this already. "Red potion," he informed me. "It will make you feel better."

Scoffing, I handed the bottle back to him without drinking. "I'm fine. Look, you want to know where Ryou is. I'd actually like to know that, too. You said Link no longer needed protection. Why?"

Riplakish wordlessly stashed the bottle back into whatever pocket he'd been keeping it in before speaking again. "There are legends of the Hero of Time passed down by the Sheikah that give us a good idea of where Link is. Ryou is not part of those legends, though, so we expected him to be here."

"What's your 'good idea' of where Link is?" I asked curtly. Wherever it was, that had to be where Ryou was.

Riplakish was apparently becoming just as annoyed by my questioning as I'd been by his. "That is unnecessary information. I still don't know who you are."

I rolled my eyes. If he'd just answer the one question...

"Look, all you need to know about me is that protecting Ryou is _my_ job. Now, he was standing on the platform with Link when he pulled that stupid Master Sword whatever it was. Near as I can figure, wherever Link is, Ryou's probably there, too. Now answer my question."

Riplakish looked as though he wasn't sure whether or not to believe me, but he answered anyway. "Very well. As you may be aware, only the Hero of Time can pull the Master Sword from its pedestal. Link pulled the sword; however, it's possible that it didn't consider him _ready_ to be the Hero of Time yet. If that was the case, it would have sealed him away in the Sacred Realm to wait until he was."

Now I was the one who wasn't sure whether to believe him. "Not ready? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I believe it means that he will be sealed away until he comes of age," Riplakish clarified.

Oh. Sealed until he became of age. Okay, so... Wait.

"Until he comes of age?" I demanded. "But Link's a _Kokiri_! They don't _get_ any bigger than that! They don't age!"

Riplakish nodded, letting out a small sigh. "We estimate that he will return somewhere between six to eight years. Or never."

I stared at him, trying to decide if he was being serious. Finally, I was forced to come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth, and I let out a growl of frustration. "So, Ryou may _never_ come back?! He and Link are just stuck in the Sacred Realm for eternity?! Great! That's just great! What are we-"

Suddenly, I had another realization of something that was very very wrong with this and I turned to stare at the closed Door of Time. "Wait. Wait, if the door to the Sacred Realm was opened... What happened to the Triforce?"

Riplakish didn't answer for a moment, and I glanced over at him impatiently. The boy beside him appeared to have found a particularly interesting tile on the floor to stare at, scuffing one foot against the ground guiltily. Riplakish himself was watching me carefully, as if trying to judge my reaction before telling me.

Finally, he spoke, bowing his head and closing his eyes sadly as he did so. "The Master Sword was, indeed, the final key to opening the Sacred Realm. Once the sword was pulled, and Link and Ryou were pulled inside the Sacred Realm, the door was left open. Ganondorf followed them in and..."

I sighed harshly, rubbing my head in an attempt to ease the still-growing headache. "And now we're all screwed," I finished for him.

"Pretty much," Riplakish sighed as well. "Still, there is still hope. He doesn't have the entire Triforce. When he touched it, it split into its three pieces, and the pieces of Courage and Wisdom went to their destined holders."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh. So, he only has a _third_ of the entire power of the goddesses. That makes this much better, then. Totally makes up for the fact that Link and Ryou are gone. Perfect."

Riplakish looked as though he didn't know how to respond to that. The kid looked even guiltier than before. Both remained silent.

Ignoring the both of them, I pulled myself to my feet and went to stand by the closed Door of Time. Scowling, I placed one hand on the stone. "Great. Now what am I supposed to do?" I murmured to myself.

"You could stay with the Sheikah," Riplakish suggested from behind me. "We have plenty of room and you would be well taken care of. That would, of course, require that we have something to call you."

I almost laughed. Of course. They couldn't find Ryou, so they had to bring _somebody_ back to protect.

Well, I certainly didn't need their help. It shouldn't be too hard to convince them that I was a bit too much trouble to keep around, though. With a smirk, I turned towards him and introduced myself. "I don't have a name—only titles. I have been known as the Darkness within Bakura, a Thief and a Stealer of Souls, a Master of Shadows."

Riplakish didn't even look surprised. A magical barrier of some sort went up around the kid, but other than that, there was absolutely no reaction to my words. "I see," he said calmly. "In that case... you should fit right in."

Wait, what?

Abruptly, there was a swarm of shadows around me, swooping in to attack. This triggered my defensive spells, and a swirling clash of shadow against shadow formed in the air around us.

A Shadow Magician?! I'd somehow run into a Shadow Magician?! Hardly anybody in this land was a spellcaster of any sort. I'd been watching out for people who could actually cast magic rather than just use it. And now I'd just run into one accidentally?

I grinned, sending more shadows back at him in a counter attack. Just how good was he, anyway?

Very good, apparently. He didn't even flinch as the shadows flew around, dodging and blocking each other violently. The kid, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrified, obviously able to sense the shadow magic, but unable to follow it.

Riplakish spoke again, seemingly unaffected by the effort it must have been taking to control the shadows in the strange way that he was. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Riplakish, second in command of the Sheikah, the People of the Shadow."

I laughed. People of the Shadow? I'd run into a whole _people_ of Shadow Magicians? This was perfect! "All right, you've intrigued me."

Riplakish nodded. "And you, me. I have never seen techniques quite like yours."

"Never seen yours, either," I said with a grin. "Very nice."

"I propose a trade," Riplakish offered. "One of... information."

I laughed again. "You teach me, I teach you?"

He nodded. I considered for a moment. He did have a very unique way of handling the shadows, probably a result of the differences in magic between here and home. If I was going to be staying in Hyrule indefinitely anyway, I might as well learn to use the magic here as well as I could use it at home.

The hang up, of course, was my teaching him in return. There could be problems with that – namely, the differences in magic between here and home. It was possible he wouldn't be able to learn. The question was, did I tell him this?

"You would, of course, still be welcome to stay among the Sheikah whether you accept this exchange or not," Riplakish added. "We would like to stay in contact with you until the time that Link and Ryou return."

Okay, he'd pretty much just offered me limitless room and board along with the magic lessons. I might as well mention the problems that could arise. "I should warn you, I may not be able to teach you my methods for controlling the shadows. Most of my magic comes from an ancient magical item."

Riplakish merely nodded calmly. "All right. I should warn you, I cannot finalize this exchange until it is discussed with Impa when she returns."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. So, the Sheikah live in... Kakariko, right?" I asked, trying to remember what Impa had said when we'd met her before.

Riplakish nodded again. "We do. We should leave right away. Are you coming?"

"Sure. How we getting there? Walking?"

"We have a few horses," Riplakish told me. He began walking towards the entrance of the temple. "Sheik, come along."

For a moment, I wasn't sure what he meant by that last comment, and then I realized he was talking to the kid, who was still just standing there, watching me. When he didn't move, Riplakish glanced back at him and repeated himself. "Sheik. Come."

The kid jumped and scurried over to him, walking as close to Riplakish as was physically possible. With some amusement, I followed the two of them.

"So, the kid's name is Sheik?" I asked curiously. "Why'd you bring him along?"

"Sheik is under my protection," Riplakish answered curtly, placing a hand on Sheik's shoulder as they walked. He didn't say anything more on the subject, and I shrugged. All right, so it didn't have anything to do with me. That's all I needed to know.

The first thing I noticed once we were outside was that it was dark. I had apparently been unconscious for quite some time before Riplakish had come for me.

The second was that right outside the temple, there was a small group of people waiting. Some were on horses, and the rest holding the reins of theirs and looking impatient. All of them were wearing the same kind of skin-tight, blue clothing that hid their faces that Riplakish and the kid had on.

As soon as they saw us coming, they were all instantly ready to leave, those who weren't already on their horses quickly mounting them. Riplakish directed me to one of them. "You'll ride with Abimelech," he told me. He helped Sheik up onto the only rider-less horse, and then got up behind him.

I went to the Sheikah that Riplakish had pointed out and, ignoring his hand up, got onto the horse behind him. "All right. Let's go."

Riplakish nodded and led the rest of the group out of the courtyard and into the abandoned marketplace.

As we made our way towards Castle Town's main entrance, I glanced around at our little group. It wasn't particularly huge; there were six of them besides Riplakish and the kid. None of them said a word to me or to each other as we traveled, so the only noise was the sounds the horses made.

Soon enough, we reached the gates, which were closed. I was about to comment on that unfortunate bit of luck, but before I could, one of them jumped down from his horse and jogged to the side of the gate. He fiddled with something just out of my sight for a moment, and the gate clattered open.

I let my mouth fall shut and just watched as the group continued forward, the horses stepping lightly out onto the drawbridge. Of course the Sheikah would know how to open the gates. They worked for the royal family. Duh.

Thankful that I had narrowly avoided embarrassing myself with stupid commentary, I went back to observing our group, trying to determine as much about them as I could before we got to our destination.

I wasn't able to figure out much. Even now that we were all alone out in Hyrule Field, none of them said a word, simply leading their horses in a line down the pathway. They didn't look around, and none of them seemed even remotely interested in me at all. They obviously had a mission they were accomplishing, and nothing was about to distract them from that.

It occurred to me suddenly that we were out in Hyrule Field at night, and that we should be having Stalchild problems. I started keeping myself alert just in case, but nothing happened. The Sheikah seemed to have some way of keeping the Stalchildren away, too.

Getting to Kakariko from Hyrule Castle Town wasn't that long of a trip, especially on horseback. Except when you have absolutely nothing to do, nothing to look at, and nobody to talk to. It's probably actually worse when there's somebody there to talk to, and they just won't.

So, we continued traveling in silence. Looking around at my companions, though, I got the idea that it wasn't just that they were ignoring me, or that they weren't talking merely because I was there. I think they just didn't talk much in general.

Which made sense, if they were used to wearing those things that covered their faces all the time. That would make talking rather annoying.

Still, it made for an incredibly boring journey. Slightly unnerving, too. You don't often get a group of people of any size that can go for such long periods of time without having _something_ to say.

By the time we made it to the bridge that crossed the river in front of Kakariko, I was kind of wishing that those Stalchildren _would_ attack, just to make the trip more interesting. Oh, well. We were just about there, anyway.

We came to a stop in front of the large staircase that led up to Kakariko and everyone got off of the horses, handing all of the reins over to one of the Sheikah. Riplakish headed over to me.

"There is something I should mention."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

Riplakish nodded. "You see, the Sheikah do not live amongst the Hylians in Kakariko Village. The location of the entrance to the home of the Sheikah is a secret well guarded by the Sheikah." He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me. "I hope you understand."

Oh. The thing was a blindfold. I shrugged, reaching out to take it. "All right, fair enough."

"Good."

WHUD.

Huh. That wasn't a normal noise. The pain shooting through the back of my head and the black spots in my vision weren't good signs either.

Riplakish was looking rather smug. I glared at him. "Why you little..."

Everything went black again.

* * *

"He knocked you out?!" Ryou cried in dismay. "Why would he _do_ that?"

Bakura laughed. "It wasn't anything personal. You heard him. The entrances and exits to the Sheikah Caverns are top secret. There's not a single non-Sheikan who knows where they are. He'd have knocked you out, too."

Ryou sputtered for a moment. "But, but... You mean, you lived with the Sheikah for seven years, and they knocked you out every time you went outside?"

"Well, for the first few years, yeah." Bakura laughed again, seeming to find Ryou's reaction to this highly amusing. "I just didn't go outside much."

Ryou frowned. "For the first few years? What happened after that?"

Bakura shrugged. "Well, obviously, I'd been training with them during that time. They started to trust me enough that I began going on missions with them, trying to fight against Ganondorf's rise to power. And once I'd saved their lives enough times that the entire tribe owed me life debts about three times over, they made me an honorary Sheikah. Hence, the outfit." He gestured down at the blue clothing he was wearing.

Ryou gaped at him. "Wait. You're a Sheikah?!"

Bakura nodded, still amused. "Yup. Have been for the past four or five years, now."

"But. But. But what about _my_ clothes?!"

Bakura stared at him for a moment, and then laughed again. "Of all the questions you could ask. _Your_ clothes are dead. We even buried the shirt." Ryou looked absolutely horrified, and so Bakura continued. "See, I took a pretty nasty hit to the chest, once, and it wasn't even worth wearing after that. As for your pants, they got cut up and used for bandages. Denim makes surprisingly good bandages."

With a groan, Ryou buried his face in his hands. "I _liked_ that shirt."

"Me, too," Bakura said with a shake of his head. "Oh, well. Any other questions?"

Trying to remain as calm as was possible under the circumstances, Ryou considered this, trying to take deep, slow breaths. "I... _Is_ it hard to talk with that mask on?"

Bakura laughed again, reaching up to pull it down and then grinning at him. "Actually, not really. You get used to it pretty fast."

Ryou stared at him, noticing something off now that all of the cloth was away from his face. "Did... did you cut my hair?" he asked with some horror.

Bakura frowned, running one hand through his hair at that. "Well, yeah. I happen to like it shorter. It's easier to keep up that way."

"But... but my hair!"

Bakura sighed. "Look, if I'd _known_ you were coming back, I'd have grown it back out for you."

Ryou whimpered. "I liked my hair."

"It'll grow out," Bakura said with exasperation. "Come on, of all the things you could freak out about, you chose _that_? Don't you have any non-appearance-related questions?"

Knowing he was right, Ryou chuckled nervously, trying to calm down. "S-sorry... Um... So, you've been fighting a _war _for the last seven years?"

Bakura nodded. "Been doing a pretty good job, too. Ganondorf's pretty much taken over everything, but he's not touching Kakariko," he said proudly.

"And Link and I have been asleep," Ryou continued.

Hesitantly, Bakura nodded again. "Something like that."

"So, that makes me... twenty-two years old, now?"

Bakura thought about this for a moment, and then shrugged. "That, I'm actually not sure about. See, while seven years _have_ passed, I—well, _we_, I guess—don't seem to have aged at all. Or at least not much."

Ryou looked back up at him in slight confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, my friend Ashkenaz, for example, was about your age when I first met him, and now he's twenty-two. But now I still look about seventeen, and Sheik looks like _he_'s about my age. You saw how young he was when I met him." Bakura shrugged again. "We've never quite been able to figure that one out."

"Oh." Ryou frowned, trying to wrap his head around what Bakura had said. He was fifteen—or had been at the start of this mess—but whenever Bakura took control of his body, he looked slightly older than that. If Bakura still looked seventeen, that meant that Ryou was...

He hazarded a guess. "So, I'm still fifteen? Or am I seventeen now, too?"

Bakura nodded. "Near as I can figure, yeah. One of those."

"Okay. I'm going to pretend that makes sense and just go with it."

Bakura laughed. "Sure."

Ryou frowned and went back to trying to decide if he had any other questions to ask about this. "So, if I woke up, that means that Link's waking up, too, right?"

Bakura nodded again. "Should be. Don't ask me how that works, but hey, if it means we've got the Hero of Time on our side, I'll go with it."

"How did you know that we'd be waking up today? Why were you back at the Temple of Time?"

Bakura shrugged. "Well, _I_didn't know. As you may have noticed, I was under the impression that I was never going to see you again. Sheik, however, must have been keeping track or something. He rather rudely woke me up at _noon_, and practically dragged me out the door to bring me here. You'd have to ask him."

Ryou's eyes widened in sudden realization. "Oh! Speaking of Sheik. He's out... I mean, I left him... out..." He pointed up.

Bakura got what he was talking about and began scrambling to his feet. "Right! I'd better go tell..." He paused, glancing over at Ryou. "Uh. _You_'d better go tell him we're okay."

Ryou frowned at him. "He's your friend, right?"

"Well, yeah, it's just..." Bakura looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable. "You've been out of control of your body for a while. I figured you'd want to..."

"Oh." Ryou shrugged. "Well, sure, I guess. But still, you must have eventually told them that you're a spirit, right? Why not just come out in your temporary physical form?"

Bakura hesitated. "Um. Right. Just... You go on and tell Sheik I'm okay. I'll just be a minute."

Ryou stared at him in confusion for a moment, and then he got it. He laughed. "Don't tell me. You don't remember _how_?"

Bakura scowled at him. "It's _been_ seven years, Ryou. Just give me a minute."

Ryou smiled. "Good to know I'm not the only one completely thrown off by all this, then." With that, he turned away and went back to his body again.

Opening his eyes, he pushed himself back into a sitting position. Sheik was immediately by his side. "Oh, good, you're awake."

Ryou smiled at him hesitantly, getting to his feet. "Ah... Y-yeah. I..." He trailed off as he realized just why his voice had sounded muffled before: He was wearing that same face mask thing that Bakura had on.

Awkwardly, he reached up and tugged it down to his chin, decidedly not liking the feel of fabric on his face. It was like trying to speak with a scarf on, making it hard to breathe and obscuring nearly all of his words.

He willed himself to ignore the fact that he could feel just how short his hair was and he took a deep breath of non-mask-filtered air. Then, noticing that Sheik was looking at him in a shocked sort of way, he gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry. It bothers me."

Sheik didn't say anything, so Ryou hesitantly continued. "Um... But yeah, I'm okay. Bakura's okay, too. He's been explaining everything to me."

Sheik nodded, still watching him unsurely. "Good. Is... is there a way for me to speak with him?"

"Yeah, he'll be out in a minute," Ryou assured him. "He just has to, uh... remember how."

"I see." Sheik looked somewhat confused by the statement, but apparently decided not to ask, instead falling silent.

Ryou was suddenly struck by just how awkward this was. Sheik had known Bakura for seven years, and now Ryou being back was going to be even weirder to him than having Bakura around had been for Ryou's friends.

Or, well, a better comparison might be Yugi's friends having Yami around, since Ryou's friends still thought Bakura was evil. Yami having to pretend to be Yugi on a constant basis in an attempt to avoid general confusion had been weird enough. This was way beyond that. Was he going to have to pretend to be Bakura while he was here in his own body? That was just so... backwards.

Yup, this had awkward written all over it. What exactly was he supposed to _say_ to Sheik?

"So..."

Thankfully, he was saved from having to figure out any more after that, because the Millennium Ring began to glow brightly and Bakura's temporary physical form started fading in.

Sheik looked somewhat startled by the sudden appearance, but he didn't say anything, just watching curiously.

Without looking up, his eyes closed in concentration, Bakura spoke. "Don't touch me just yet," he warned. His physical form slowly grew more and more solid, until finally the Millennium Ring went dark again and Bakura smirked up at them. "Okay, got it. See, I told you."

Ryou just shook his head in amusement. "Took you long enough."

Bakura glared at him. "Hey, I'd like to see you try liv-"

Whatever Bakura had been about to say was cut off by Sheik. "Bakura, look. Link's getting here." He pointed up at the altar where the Master Sword had once lain.

Sure enough, there were sparkles beginning to fill the air, growing more and more numerous as they watched. Ryou blinked. "That's a good thing, right?" he asked uncertainly.

Sheik nodded. "This will be bright."

Immediately, Bakura shielded his eyes with one arm, looking annoyed. "More light magic," he grumbled.

Before anyone could respond, there was a brilliant wave of blue light, completely filling the area. Ryou had an odd sense of déjà vu as the light washed over him, blinding him momentarily. Now what was happening?

Quickly, the light faded. When Ryou could see again, he looked around to see what was different.

Bakura was rubbing his eyes with both hands, snarling quietly to himself. "Stupid bloody light magic. _Ra_, that hurts. I_ hate_ this place!"

Sheik had backed off a bit, but he looked completely unaffected by the flash of light. He was now standing some distance back from Bakura, up against one of the walls.

As Ryou continued his examination of the room, his eyes quickly fell upon the most important change: Standing on the platform before the empty pedestal, holding the Master Sword and gazing down at it pensively, was Link.

Or, at least... it had to be Link. He was wearing his usual strange outfit: green tunic, green hat, and he had the Hylian shield slung over his back. But it couldn't be Link, could it? The Kokiri never grew up, and Link now looked like a tall, well-built teenager.

As Ryou stared, a fairy suddenly flew up into view, beginning to circle the area. "Hey! Hey, Link!"

Link shook himself lightly and glanced up. "Huh? What?"

"Look!" Navi flew over to Ryou, circling his head. He grinned as he slowly realized that it really was her.

Bakura scowled up at Navi, waving one hand to keep her out of his face. "Oh. Great. You."

Navi stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, _you_ haven't changed."

Link had, by now, turned and spotted what Navi was pointing out. Immediately, he beamed, sheathing the Master Sword on his back and beginning to walk forward, nearly skipping. "Ryou! Bakura!"

Ryou smiled. Definitely Link. "Hey! Long time no see, apparently! You got... big."

Link nodded excitedly. "I know! I couldn't believe when Rauru told me what had happened! I just—Whoa!" He stumbled suddenly, having reached the edge of the platform and misjudged the distance down in the step.

He paused until he was sure of his balance again, and then he laughed. "I'm still trying to get used to it."

Ryou laughed too. "I can't even imagine. Wow."

"So what about you?" Link wanted to know. "What's with the outfit?"

Ryou shrugged. "Ask Bakura. I've been the same place you have."

"Really? Oh." Shrugging, Link turned and walked up next to Bakura. "Okay, Bakura. What's with the—Whoa. Hey, you got short." With a baffled look on his face, he placed a hand on Bakura's head, effectively demonstrating that he was now several inches taller than both Ryou and Bakura.

Bakura glared at him, brushing off his hand. "Shut up. I did not."

Navi snickered spitefully at him. Bakura directed his glare at her instead.

From his spot still standing against the wall, Sheik suddenly cleared his throat to get their attention. At the sound, Link immediately whirled, his hand going instinctively for his sword. Before any of them could react, he had it drawn and ready to attack, glancing around the room warily. An instant later, Navi was circling Sheik's head quickly, flashing red and drawing Link's full attention to him.

Sheik had absolutely no reaction to this, simply watching Link with a deadpan expression. "We have been waiting for you, Hero of Time," he said simply.

Bakura smirked. "Oh, sure, scare him half to death. Nice job."

Sheik gave him an annoyed look, but said nothing.

Link frowned, glancing back at Bakura and lowering the Master Sword slightly. "You know him?" he asked warily.

Bakura laughed a little. "Yeah. Link, this is Sheik, who is trying to do his best to be as dark and mysterious about this as possible. I, however, am ruining everything, and will probably receive a harsh scolding once you're out of earshot."

Navi seemed unsure about this, but reluctantly faded back to her normal blue. Link relaxed.

Sheik rolled his eyes at Bakura's words, and then proceeded to ignore him, keeping his attention on the Hero of Time. "Link, I am unsure how much of an explanation you have already received, but I am here to give you the rest of it."

With a shrug, Link sheathed his sword. "Rauru told me that Ganondorf had taken over, and that I needed to find the sages to defeat him."

Sheik nodded. "There is a legend passed down by my people, the Sheikah. It goes like this: When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will awaken those destined to be sages, who dwell in the five temples. One in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house of the dead, one inside a goddess of the sand. Together with the Hero of Time, the awakened ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world."

Bakura looked vaguely impressed. "Very nice. How long did it take you to memorize that?"

Continuing to ignore Bakura, Sheik watched Link carefully. "Because of the evil power in the temple, the sages cannot hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm. If you believe the legend, you must go to the temples and awaken them yourself."

Link nodded firmly. "I'll do it."

"What about me?" Ryou spoke up suddenly, looking confused. "What should I be doing?"

Sheik frowned at him. "I... will be honest, Ryou. The legends don't speak of you."

Bakura shrugged, waving him off. "Eh, the legends don't ever mention anyone by name. For all we know, we've got some mystic title nobody's ever heard of, and once we find that out, the Sheikah will know all about it."

"That's about right," Sheik agreed with a glance at Bakura. "Ryou, I suggest you continue to travel with Link. Bakura, you are to accompany him."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "That an official order?" he asked sarcastically. "I don't exactly have much choice."

Sheik ignored this, although he had what almost seemed like an amused expression on his face. "Now, the first place you should go, Link, is the Forest Temple. The sage there is a girl I am sure you know."

Link looked surprised. "Really?"

Sheik nodded. "Unfortunately, equipped as you currently are, you cannot even enter the temple, so you should first head to Kakariko Village. Do you understand everything I've told you?"

"No," Bakura answered boredly.

With a somewhat annoyed look at Bakura, Sheik sighed. "There is a legend-"

Bakura cut him off hurriedly. "Not that part! I get that! I meant, what do we need to get in Kakariko that I couldn't have just grabbed before we left?"

Sheik watched him for a moment, as if debating whether or not he should say. Bakura glared at him, and eventually, he sighed again. "You need a hookshot," he said finally.

Bakura's jaw dropped. "No. You're joking. We have to go see _Dampe_?"

Sheik nodded silently.

"And you're certain we need a hookshot?"

Sheik nodded again.

"But that's... There's gotta be another hookshot somewhere in Hyrule, right?" he asked almost desperately.

"There might be," Sheik allowed. "But the only one we happen to have the location of is the one in Kakariko."

Bakura swore under his breath. Ryou looked at him in confusion. "Why? Who's Dampe?"

Surprisingly, Link answered for him. "He's the grave keeper in Kakariko," he said slowly. "Right? What's wrong with talking to Dampe?"

"He's dead," Bakura answered dryly.

Link's face fell. "He died?"

Ryou was still confused. "And we're supposed to talk to him? How?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Being dead isn't stopping _me_ from still hanging around," he pointed out. "Apparently, ghosts are a much more common occurrence in Hyrule than at home."

"Oh."

Link frowned. "So what's the problem with going to talk with him, then? He was perfectly nice to me when I met him. A little scary looking at first, but..."

Bakura growled to himself. "Never mind. It's just... personal problems. We should get going."

Ryou shrugged, giving Bakura a half-smile. "All right, I won't pry. Sheik, are you going to come with us?"

Sheik merely shook his head.

Link smiled at him. "Well, it was nice to meet you. See you around?"

For a moment, Sheik hesitated, and then, expressionlessly, he nodded. With a grin, Link turned and began to walk towards the door. Giving Sheik a quick bow, Ryou quickly followed him.

Bakura continued to stand by Sheik as the two walked away, watching him with confusion. "If you're not coming with us, where are you going?"

"Staying here," Sheik answered curtly.

Bakura smirked. "Here? Why? Guard duty for an empty temple?"

Sheik nodded. "Something like that."

"Sucks to be you. How'd you—Ack!" Abruptly, something seemed to jerk Bakura backwards. A look of surprise appeared on his face for a split second, and then his physical form vanished.

Startled, Sheik started forward, as if to attempt to catch him somehow. "Bakura!"

At his call, Ryou whirled around. "Wha?—Oh!"

As soon as he stopped, Bakura reappeared, kneeling on the floor a short distance from Ryou, clutching his chest. He glared up at Ryou. "Pay attention to where you're going!" he snapped.

"Sorry!" Ryou apologized hastily, his eyes wide. "I didn't mean to!"

Sheik hurried to Bakura's side and offered him an arm up, looking confused. Grumbling to himself, Bakura took it and got to his feet, still rubbing his chest.

"What happened?" Link asked worriedly. Navi circled Bakura's head, trying to check him over.

Bakura pushed away from Sheik, waving Navi out of his face, and stalked over to Ryou's side, reaching out and grabbing the cord of the Millennium Ring from where it hung around Ryou's neck. He held it out for the others to see. "I hate this stupid thing," he said simply.

"He can't get too far away from me," Ryou explained with some embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Bakura. I didn't realize the room was big enough to..."

Bakura shook his head, letting the Ring drop back to Ryou's chest with a sigh. "Never mind. I've gotten too used to having my own body. I forgot I have chains."

Link gave Bakura a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Never mind," he repeated irritably, obviously disliking the sudden attention on him. "Let's get going. See you later, Sheik."

Sheik's expression had returned to totally neutral and he nodded, folding his arms and standing back.

Link and Ryou also offered hesitant second goodbyes to Sheik, and then the three of them all headed towards the door, walking together this time. As quickly as they could, they exited the temple.

They didn't get very far outside when first Link and then Ryou came to a dead stop, gaping around at the scene before them. Hyrule Castle Town was in ruins, several of the buildings barely standing. A shroud of darkness covered everything, and there wasn't a sign of life anywhere. The only sound to be heard was their own breathing and the faint whistling of the wind as it blew through the abandoned alleyways. There was simply nothing left.

Looking back, they could see that the outside of the temple had become nearly as black as the burnt remains of Castle Town, a stark contrast to the bright white that was within. Behind the temple, Death Mountain loomed ominously, the strange cloud that always hovered around it now burning red.

Slowly, Ryou turned to look over everything, his eyes wide with shock and horror. "This... this is..." he whispered.

"Horrible," Link finished, just as shocked, if not more, than Ryou. "What...?"

Navi was uncharacteristically quiet, sticking close to Link.

"Will you hurry up?" Bakura called back in annoyance from up ahead. Ryou looked over at him to see that Bakura appeared to be leaning on nothing, looking irritated. Ryou blushed as he realized that he'd obviously reached the end of his 'leash' again.

Immediately, he started forward. "Sorry!"

Link hesitated, still looking around at the destruction around them. "What happened?" he finally asked.

Bakura also glanced around at the rundown buildings. His irritated look didn't fade, but it didn't seem to be focused on them anymore. "Ganondorf happened," he growled. "He happened to a lot of places around Hyrule. Lake Hylia, Death Mountain, Lon Lon Ranch; I've even heard rumors that the Lost Woods are in bad shape. The only place that _isn't_, in fact, is Kakariko Village, and that's only because the Sheikah have done everything we can to _keep_ Ganondorf from happening to it."

Link frowned at him worriedly. "What happened to Kokiri Forest?"

With a sigh, Bakura shrugged. "Not a clue, to be honest. The Sheikah can't be everywhere. Rumor is that a lot of monsters moved in."

Link didn't seem to have a response to that. Navi landed on his shoulder and placed a hand reassuringly on the side of his face. "We're going home as soon as we're done in Kakariko," she reminded him.

Slowly, Link nodded. "Yeah, it's just... how could all this have happened?"

Bakura scowled and turned away. "That's a pointless question, Link. It doesn't matter how it happened. What does is that we move on, and stop it from getting worse. We can take Ganondorf down. Now, come on."

With a determined look, Link nodded again, finally walking towards the entrance leading to the town's old marketplace.

"Go quickly through here," Bakura directed. "The place is crawling with Redeads and who knows what else."

"Bakura, where's my sword?" Ryou looked down at himself, searching for weaponry of any sort and not immediately finding any.

Bakura just kept walking. "The one we bought when we first got here, you mean? Not a clue. There's a better one that's kind of like it sheathed at your waist."

Ryou frowned. "Sheathed where? I don't see a sheathe."

There was a pause, and then Bakura rolled his eyes, facing Ryou and reaching for his own side, pulling out a blade from seemingly nowhere. "Here. And there's a dagger sheathed here, so don't twist around too much. And a few more blades there, there, and there." He demonstrated, pulling out each blade as he mentioned them and then sheathing them again.

Ryou's eyes widened. "How many swords am I carrying?" he asked in shock. He patted himself down, trying to locate the ones Bakura had just showed him and wondering how he'd managed to hide so many in this nearly skin-tight outfit, even without the cloak he wore with it.

Bakura grinned. "They say it's impossible to completely unarm a Sheikah," he mentioned mysteriously. "We've always got another blade somewhere."

Ryou looked somewhat horrified. "Bakura, if I don't know where there are sharp things on my body, I'm going to kill myself on them."

Waving him off, Bakura laughed. "Most of them are in pocket space. You can't hurt yourself. I already pointed out the ones you have to be wary of. Now, come on, both of you. Keep your swords out and ready, but don't stop and fight or you'll get swarmed."

Fumbling a bit, Ryou finally located the hilt of the sword Bakura had recommended for him and unsheathed it.

Bakura was right about there being Redeads in what used to be the marketplace. All of them were careful to keep their eyes averted from the Redeads as they passed, but only one even bothered to get up and Bakura quickly took it down before it even realized he was there.

Soon, they made it to the main gate. The drawbridge was down, and once they reached it, they saw that it had been snapped in half, lying mostly submerged in the half-drained moat. The chains previously used for hoisting it up and down now hung uselessly from the walls.

Jumping lightly over the water that covered the bridge in a failed attempt at keeping his feet dry, Ryou tentatively followed the other two into Hyrule Field.

As soon as they were out of Castle Town, the very air seemed to get lighter as the mists of darkness faded. Link took a deep breath, a look of relief on his face. "Man, am I glad to be out of there."

Bakura just nodded, continuing to walk towards Kakariko village. "Ganondorf uses a very strange brand of magic," he mentioned. "It's dark, but it's not shadow magic. It's more like..." he shrugged, unable to describe it. "Well, whatever it is, it's not natural. Even I don't like it. And it's left its mark all over that place."

Ryou followed him at a slower pace, trying to figure out how to put his sword back into a sheath that he couldn't see. "How long ago did Ganondorf attack Castle Town?" he asked without looking up.

Bakura pondered that. "It was a few years after you and Link were sealed away. Nobody's really quite sure why he waited so long. Some say that he was looking for something."

Link frowned. "Looking for what?"

"For the other Triforce pieces, of course." Bakura shrugged. "The Sheikah already know the location of one of the two missing pieces, and Impa says she's got a pretty good idea as to where the other one is, but she's not telling."

"So where's the one you know about?" Ryou asked.

Bakura shook his head. "Not discussing that in public." Looking around the wide, open field, Ryou opened his mouth to protest. Bakura interrupted him. "Ganondorf has spies everywhere. I'm not taking any chances."

Link nodded firmly. "We've already made too many mistakes."

Ryou fell silent and somberly went back to trying to relocate the sheath for his sword as he walked.

"It's not _all_ doom and gloom nowadays," Bakura reassured Link. He gave him a look that clearly stated he didn't believe him, and Bakura went on. "It isn't. You'll see Kakariko village when we get there; the town is doing great. That girl, Anju, was able to switch to a pocket cucco trade, which is good, 'cause those cuccos of hers kept getting into _every_thing, before."

Link slowly nodded. "Any progress with the Skulltula family?"

"Not a whole lot," Bakura answered with a shrug. "We kill the things when we see them, but we suspect most of them are-"

He was interrupted suddenly by a shriek from behind, and both Link and Bakura whirled around, automatically drawing weapons. Behind them...

Was nothing. Ryou was gone, and the only trace of him was the sword he'd dropped, lying by itself in the grass.

"Ryou?" Link's eyes were wide as he dashed back to where the sword lay, looking around frantically. "Ryou?"

Bakura scowled. "He's gotta be close, or I'd be having problems. Ryou? Where are you?"

Ryou's voice answered faintly from somewhere below them. "Down here..."

Bakura sighed. "Ryou, did you fall in a hole or something?"

There was a short pause, and then an embarrassed "Yes..." came floating up.

Link glanced around. "What hole? I don't see anything around here. Navi, can you find him?"

"I can see light up there," Ryou reported. "I don't see a way up, though."

Bakura wasn't finding anything more than Link was. "There's no hole, Ryou. Not that I can see, at any rate."

"Here!" Navi seemed to have spotted something, turning green and hovering over a spot that was apparently somehow different than the ground around it.

Bakura stalked over. "I still don't see anything," he reported sullenly.

Navi glared at him. "Well, there's _some_thing there," she insisted. "It's being hidden by something."

"An illusion of ground over the hole?" Link guessed.

Bakura stood directly over the spot that Navi had indicated, stamping his feet to demonstrate that the ground was perfectly solid. "There's nothing here," he repeated.

"I think you're directly above me," Ryou said unsurely from below. "I can hear you better now."

Bakura stared at the ground with a scowl. Navi gave him a smug look. "Told you so," she bragged.

Link frowned at it. "So, what? The ground closed up once he fell through?"

"No," Ryou answered. "I can still see light. It's open."

"What else is down there, Ryou?" Bakura asked impatiently.

There was a pause. "Um... There's kind of a tunnel leading off somewhere, but nothing else where I'm at. Should I follow the tunnel?"

"No. Stay there," Bakura directed. "Navi, since you're so convinced there's something there, any brilliant ideas for getting it open?"

Navi huffed at him. "I don't know! I can just sense it's there!"

"Sometimes that means playing certain songs makes stuff happen," Link mentioned. "Or, since we know there's a hole here, I could try just bombing it and seeing what happens."

"Don't bomb it while I'm underneath it!" Ryou protested.

Bakura looked contemplative. "That'll probably work, actually. The bombs don't have that big of a range, so you probably won't get caught in the actual explosion. Move down the tunnel a bit so you can be out of the way of any falling debris."

"Okay," Ryou replied unsurely. A few moments later, he called out that he was ready.

Link pulled a bomb out of his bag and lit it, setting it on the ground and then scurrying out of the way. Bakura also stood back a ways, though he didn't need to. The bomb exploded, and sure enough, when the smoke cleared, a hole in the ground had been revealed.

Navi sniffed disdainfully. "I told you so," she repeated.

Bakura ignored her, peering down into the hole. "Ryou? You all right?"

"Y-yeah," came the reply from the darkness. "Guys, you better come see this! It's really cool!"

Link and Bakura exchanged a short glance, and then Bakura shrugged, dropping down nimbly into the hole. Link and Navi followed close behind.

As soon as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could see the tunnel that Ryou had mentioned and they quickly entered it. They walked along it for only a short distance before it opened up into a large, decidedly un-cave-like eight-sided room, the door they'd just entered forming the eighth side. Each of the other walls held an intricately decorated panel in seven different colors: green, blue, purple, black, orange, red, and yellow. An unlit torch had been set in the middle of each panel.

Ryou stood near the center of the room, where a low, eight-sided platform had been set into the ground to match the walls. In the middle of the platform, giving them all a strange sense of déjà vu, was a pedestal with a sword.

Bakura immediately spoke up, his eyes trained warily on the sword. "Don't touch anything," he warned.

Ryou was also examining the sword, but the look in his eyes was one of wonder rather than suspicion. "Why?" he asked vaguely, taking a step closer so that he could see better. "It's..."

Quickly stepping to where Ryou was, Bakura took a rough hold of his shoulder. "Do you not remember what happened the _last_ time we pulled an obviously magical sword out of a pedestal? Navi, do we even know what this one _is_?"

Navi circled the hilt of the sword warily. "Well, I don't," she said unsurely. With a shrug, she went to examine the panels. "Maybe these say something about it..."

Link slowly walked over to join Ryou and Bakura at the edge of the platform, looking around the room interestedly. "It's pretty in here," he commented. "Peaceful."

Bakura scowled. "I don't trust it."

Ryou didn't seem to be listening to any of them. "Look at the sword," he said softly. "The hand guard looks almost like the wings on the royal family's crest, and it's got the Triforce in the center, there... But it almost seems... inverted, somehow."

Link took a step forward, leaning down to check it out himself. "You're right. The outside triangles are darkened, and the inside one is lit instead. What's that supposed to mean? A fourth Triforce piece?"

Bakura shook his head. "Impossible. That's just empty space in the middle of the other three triangles."

"Look," Ryou pointed at the bright center section. "Isn't that...?" Without looking away, he grabbed the Millennium Ring, holding it up upside-down in comparison.

Bakura stared. "No," he breathed. The middle section of the Triforce on the sword had the Eye of Horus symbol etched into it, making it look almost exactly like the triangle in the middle of the Ring.

"The Blade of the White Magician," Navi read from off of the black wall. "The Keeper of the Balance."

As if in response, a sharp grinding noise from behind suddenly caught their attention. Quickly, they all whirled, just in time to watch in horror as the entrance they'd just come through closed, leaving only a wall of brown stone.

Link and Navi both hurried over to it, checking for a way to open it back up again. Link pounded a fist against it a few times. It was no use; they were all trapped.

Bakura turned slowly back to the sword, examining it with distrust. "I guess one of us has to take this stupid thing to open it back up again?"

"Probably," Link answered hesitantly. "Though the torches around the room probably have something to do with it, too."

Ryou stepped towards the pedestal. "I'll try it," he offered.

Bakura shook his head. "Let me try first," he suggested. "I'm a spirit, so it'll be harder for it to do anything horrible to me if it decides I'm not the right wielder. And besides, if it's got the Eye of Horus on it, then maybe..."

It seemed to be a fairly logical conclusion to make. Ryou moved aside to let Bakura try.

Confidently, Bakura grabbed the hilt and pulled. This turned out to be a very bad idea, and a split second later, Bakura jerked away, hissing in pain as electricity crackled up his arm.

"Bakura!" Link hurried to his side. "Are you all right?"

Bakura let out a few choice curses, massaging his arm slowly. "I'll be fine," he growled. "Figures, the one thing that actually hurts me as a spirit, and _that_'s what they booby trap the thing with."

Link frowned at the sword. "Whoever 'they' is... Should I try next?"

Ryou glanced back. "Why? You've already got a sword."

Link gave him an embarrassed grin. "I just don't want to see you get zapped, too, if you don't have to."

"I dunno," Ryou replied, his gaze returning to the blade. "It just seems... Right, somehow." Without waiting for any protests, he stepped forward and took hold of the hilt.

Immediately, a soft, yellowish light flooded the area. It blocked off everyone's view, but it wasn't a harsh glare; none of them had to shield their eyes from it, they just suddenly couldn't see. Bakura yelled Ryou's name, but there was no answer.

A few seconds later, the light faded slowly away, revealing a strange sight. Ryou still stood on the platform, holding the sword loosely in his hand as he examined it, but he now looked quite different. Bakura's Sheikah outfit was gone, replaced with loose, white clothing—a long sleeved shirt and slacks. On his head, he wore a very familiar-looking white hat.

They all stared at him for a long moment, before Link finally broke the silence. "It's like your clothes just went completely opposite of what you'd just been wearing," he commented.

Ryou glanced up at him. "What?"

Bakura smirked. "I can't believe it. That ridiculous hat is just going to keep haunting you, isn't it?"

Swiftly, Ryou reached up and snatched it off his head so that he could see what Bakura was talking about. "What?" he repeated. "What do you...?"

As soon as he caught a glimpse of it, he understood Bakura's comment; the hat was almost identical to the one he'd worn during Bakura's Monster World game, when he'd been playing as a white wizard. The main difference was the symbol on the front. Instead of a cross, the Eye of Horus lay within the center of a thin outline of the Triforce.

Link grinned at him. "I like it. It looks kind of like mine, but white and fancy."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I'm just glad that for whatever reason, whatever just happened didn't change _my_ outfit to match that. The whole thing's ridiculous."

"Guys, we've got a problem," Navi informed them suddenly. Turning to her, they all quickly realized what the problem was: the door was still blocked off.

Ryou frowned, putting the hat distractedly back onto his head and placing the sword in a sheath that was now tied at his waist. "Maybe I've gotta do something now?"

"Dunno." Link shrugged. "The torch on that black wall is lit, now. Maybe you have to light the others?"

"That might do it," Ryou agreed. "How?"

Bakura shrugged. "Anyone got a deku stick?" He looked to Link expectedly.

Link was already digging through his bag, searching for one. "I might. I don't know. Been a few years since I've checked," he joked.

With a smirk, Bakura shook his head. "Right. Ryou, while he's looking, mind checking _your_ bag? You _do_ still have all my weapons, right?"

Ryou blinked, and then did as he was told, pulling his bag open and peering into it. Unable to tell just from the first glance, he reached in and began moving things around, trying to see further into the bag. Almost immediately, he froze, his eyes going wide. "Bakura, how many weapons do you _have_?!" he asked in dismay.

Bakura grinned. "Oh, good. I was worried they'd all disappeared in that flashy outfit change you just did. If you've still got possession of them, though," he pulled a dagger of some sort out of nowhere and twirled it around in his fingers, "then I'll still be able to use them from here."

Ryou continued staring at his bag. "Is that a _mace_?!"

"Could be," Bakura admitted.

"Why?!"

Bakura laughed. "Don't worry about it," he suggested. "Link, where's that deku stick?"

Link had long since found what he was looking for, but hadn't said anything in favor of watching the amusing sight of Ryou freaking out over Bakura's weapons. At Bakura's words, he jumped, and then came forward, holding up the deku stick. "Here."

"All right, then. Try lighting the torches."

Link nodded and went over to the black wall, placing the end of the deku stick into the flames. Immediately, it caught fire, and he hurried to the next closest wall, the orange one, and touched the flaming end of the stick to the unlit torch.

Nothing happened. For a moment, Link continued to attempt to get the torch to light, to no avail. Eventually, his deku stick torch sputtered out.

"There's gotta be a switch, then," Link concluded immediately. "Or something else we have to do. Maybe the torches light to indicate that we've completed a task?"

Bakura examined the white wall's torch, holding his hand over it as he checked it magically. "I can't really tell," he murmured, almost to himself. "But there's a spell of some sort on them. Either that, or they're... supposed to _hold_ magic?"

A look of understanding dawned on Ryou's face. "They're supposed to hold magic? Like magic flames?"

Bakura shrugged, still eyeing the torch with a frown. "Possibly. Which would be great, if we actually had a way of _casting_ said magic flames."

Ryou slowly unsheathed the sword, turning to face the green wall. With a strange expression, he held the sword out in front of him straight up and down.

The center triangle on the hilt glowed green for an instant, and then a spell shot out of it, heading directly towards the wall. There was a shower of green sparks, and when it stopped, the torch was lit, green flames crackling away as if that color was normal for flame.

"Forest," Ryou said softly, lowering the sword.

Link stared. "How'd you know you could do that?"

Ryou didn't respond, instead turning completely around to face the wall opposite: the orange one. "And its balance, Spirit." He raised the sword again.

Link ducked out of the way as the sword glowed orange, shooting a spell at the wall. Like with the green, once the spell faded, the torch remained lit with orange flames.

Bakura frowned as Ryou turned almost mechanically to another wall. "I get it. It's teaching him how to use the spells somehow."

As if in response, Ryou raised the sword again and it glowed red. "Fire," he intoned as the spell hit the wall. The torch lit, this time with normal-looking flames, and he turned completely around again. "And its balance, Water." He repeated the move, and the blue wall's torch lit with a strange, wavering blue flame.

Ryou hesitated as he turned to the next wall. "Sh-shadow," he got out as the sword glowed purple, and then shot out a burst of shadows.

Bakura smirked a little as that spell lit the torch on the purple wall. "Well, what do you know. You can use Shadow magic after all."

With a vague shrug, Ryou finally faced the last wall, the yellow one. He smiled as the sword glowed. "And its balance, Light."

Unlike the thin spells that Ryou had been firing before, the Light spell unexpectedly exploded, flooding the whole room with a blinding white. Link cried out in surprise; Bakura snarled in pain.

A second later, the light faded again, revealing the last torch to be alight with yellow-white flames. The door leading out slowly ground open.

Ryou rushed to Bakura's side. "Bakura! I'm sorry! Are you all right?"

Bakura had dropped to the ground, holding his eyes and growling to himself. At Ryou's question, he snapped, "What did you do?!"

"I don't know!" Ryou cried, wringing his hands worriedly. "I did it exactly the same as I did the others! Even the Shadow spell was the same strength as the other elemental spells! I don't know why it did that! It was like something was amplifying my spell!"

Link stepped closer, rubbing one eye. "You okay? That was bright..."

Bakura responded with a growl and several choice curses, remaining on the ground.

Navi rolled her eyes, hovering over him. "You don't have to be rude," she sniffed. "It was just a bit of light. Hurry up. The door's open now."

"Navi, hang on a second," Ryou hurriedly put in, cutting off Bakura's sharp reply. "It's not that simple. Light magic is..." he trailed off as he tried to think how to put this.

Bakura struggled to his feet, one hand still over his eyes. "Light magic," he growled, "is the opposite of Shadow magic, which is what _I'm_ almost _purely_ made out of right now. Light cancels out shadow, same way water puts out fire. Ryou, if you've _blinded_ me..."

Link frowned in worry. "I didn't even think about that. Are you going to be okay?"

"Oh, probably." Bakura removed his hand from his eyes, opening them slowly. For a moment, he just stood there blinking, and then he scowled, letting out a few more curses. "_You_ lot can still see, can't you?"

Hesitantly, Ryou nodded. "Yeah... Can't you?"

"No." Bakura replied harshly. With that, he turned suddenly towards the room's exit and stalked towards it. "Come on, let's get out of this hole, while we still can."

Link hurried to walk beside him. "Bakura, if you can't see, maybe you should-"

"I can walk without being able to see," Bakura snapped. A swirl of shadows rose around him dramatically as he pushed on ahead.

"If you're sure..." Link said, not sounding at all sure himself.

Navi rolled her eyes, flying ahead. "Oh, just let him be. If he wants to walk into walls, he can."

With a snort, Bakura suddenly shot a thin burst of shadows at her. They hit her squarely and she yelped. Bakura smirked. "I don't need to see," he repeated.

"Bakura!" Ryou protested.

"Oh, come on. I didn't even do anything to her."

Navi shook herself indignantly. Ryou noted with some relief that, as Bakura had said, the spell didn't seem to have actually done anything; just showed off Bakura's ability to aim, like a tracer. Navi huffed, but stayed silent, going to sulk in Link's hat.

Soon enough, the tunnel brought them back to the room they'd first dropped down into. To Ryou's surprise, there was now a blue, glowing pedestal in the center, with a faint light shining down on it from the hole up above.

"There's the way out," Link pointed out. He stepped up onto the platform, and a humming noise started. Ryou gawked as Link was lifted up into the air and out of the hole.

"W-wait!" he called, starting forward.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. It's just a hover mat. They're built specifically to help idiots who fall into holes get back out of them. Frankly, I'm not surprised to see one here."

Ryou was a little disgruntled by Bakura's obvious implication that he was an idiot, but he decided not to say anything. It would just encourage him.

Instead, he stepped up onto the platform himself, Bakura following behind him. Both of them were lifted upwards, and they soon found themselves back in the bright, cheery field of Hyrule.

Bakura immediately started forward towards Kakariko. "Don't fall in any more holes," he warned irritably.

Link laughed, and Ryou looked embarrassed. "I didn't mean to!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Bakura waved him off. "Come on."

Link and Ryou hurried to catch up.

After a minute or so of walking, Ryou spoke up, still feeling bad about Bakura being blinded. "I really am sorry about the light thing," he apologized again. "I don't know what happened."

Bakura shrugged. "Should have expected something like that. You are _hikari_, after all."

Ryou shook his head. "But it really felt like something _out_side was amplifying it, not something part of me... If that makes any sense," he added sheepishly.

Link looked contemplative. "Something that amplifies a light spell..."

"That's it!" Navi made a sudden reappearance, fluttering around Link's head. "Link, didn't Rauru tell you to give that yellow thing to Ryou?"

Link smacked his forehead. "Of course!" He set about digging through his bag.

Bakura stopped, glancing back at him curiously. "Yellow thing? What yellow thing?"

"This!" Link pulled out what looked like a large, yellow disk, handing it to Ryou. "Rauru said this was a Sage Medallion, and that it meant that he'd added his powers to mine, or something. He told me you'd find it useful."

"Rauru is the ancient Sage of Light," Navi explained. "I bet that's what amplified your Light spell: the powers of the Light Sage!"

Ryou looked the medallion over thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess that would do it."

"_That_ would have been nice to know earlier," Bakura grumbled. "So, as we rescue these sages, they'll give us these medallions and Ryou's spells will get more powerful?"

Link nodded. "That sounds about right," he agreed.

"Well, that's kind of cool," Navi mentioned. "Hey, now we know your title, too, so the Sheikah can look it up in their legend books or whatever they have!"

"Joy." Bakura turned to start walking towards Kakariko again. "I'm sure Ashkenaz will love the reading assignment. Come on, let's get going. I assume you all want to get there before it gets dark?"

Ryou looked upward to see that the sun had begun to set. "Oh, you're right."

Link shrugged. "If it gets dark before we get there, I can always play the sun's song. Then it'll be day again."

Bakura shot him a frown. "Look, Hero of Time or not, let's not go messing with the space/time continuum if we can help it, all right? Besides, we need to act quickly, and that song jumps us _forward_ in time."

"Oh. Right." Link gave him a sheepish grin. "I guess we should hurry, then."

The conversation dropped into silence, and they all continued onward.

Thankfully, the steps that led up to Kakariko weren't that far away. Once they made it over the bridge, it took hardly any time at all to reach the village, and so despite Bakura's warning, they entered with plenty of time before the sun finished going down.

At the gate leading into the village, a teenage boy in a dark green tunic stood guard. When he spotted the group approaching, his hand went quickly to a sword sheathed over his shoulder, but he let his arm drop as soon as he saw who was leading them. "Hey, Bakura!" he shouted cheerfully, heading towards them. "Welcome back."

Bakura barely even looked at him, continuing to walk towards the gate. "Hi, Mido."

"Where's Sheik been?" the boy inquired with a smirk. "I beat his score the other day, and I haven't been able to gloat to him yet."

"He's on a mission," Bakura returned shortly. "And so are we. Scram."

His grin growing wider, the boy started to respond, "Mission, huh? What kind of-"

Suddenly, he noticed Navi as she fluttered over his head and he stopped dead. For a moment, he merely stared at her, his eyes wide and his mouth open. Then, in almost a panic, he looked down and seemed to see Ryou and Link for the first time.

Abruptly, he turned around and took off. "All right, I'll get out of your way then, Bakura. See ya!"

"Hey!" Bakura scowled. "Mido, what's up with-" But the boy had already scampered up a low ledge and disappeared around the corner. Bakura scoffed. "Crazy kid."

"Who is he?" Link asked curiously, staring after him.

Navi, looking somewhat unnerved by the reaction the boy had had to her, flew over to ask the same question. "Yeah, who is he?"

Bakura grunted, beginning to walk again. "That's just Mido. He's one of Sheik's friends."

Ryou frowned as he followed slowly. "He seemed familiar somehow. Have we met him before?"

Bakura shrugged. "He gives everyone that impression at first. He's not important, though. Just ignore him. Most of us do."

Link continued watching the corner where the boy had vanished, as if he would reappear at any moment. "He seemed _really_ familiar, though. His name's Mido?"

Ryou glanced at him. "Isn't Mido the name of that Kokiri boy you grew up with?"

Link nodded, but Bakura just shrugged again. "Different Mido," he said shortly. "Although that explains where I've heard the name before."

"Very strange," Link murmured, almost to himself.

Ryou shrugged. "I just find it strange that he knew you," he said to Bakura. "I thought the Sheikah were pretty secretive. I wouldn't think the normal villagers would know you."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Well, the Sheikah do prefer to stay where we don't have to associate with Hylians. But Mido's a weird kid. Made friends with Sheik somehow several years ago, and he's been getting his nose into Sheikah business where it doesn't belong ever since."

Link nodded. "I see..."

With a sigh, Bakura admitted, "Of course, unfortunately, _most_ of the villagers know who I am. See, they have this ridiculous notion that I-"

"Hey!" As they passed through the center of town, someone yelled from a doorway. "It's the Great Bakura!"

"Really?" another villager asked in awe, appearing suddenly at the doorway. Waving wildly, he called out to them. "Hello, Bakura! Good to see you!"

Ryou stared in wonder as more villagers gathered, either calling to them or merely talking in excited whispers amongst themselves.

"-the Great Bakura! He's back!"

"-really want to get his autograph!"

"Who's with him? I wonder-"

"-really cool! The Great Bakura!"

Before Ryou and Link could say anything, Bakura grabbed both of their wrists and pulled them along, trying to get out of the center of the town as quickly as he could, looking highly irritated.

Once Bakura had dragged them out of the sight of most of the villagers, Ryou whirled on him with wide eyes. "What did you do?!"

Bakura scowled. "Nothing."

"What did you _do_?!" Ryou repeated, ignoring Bakura's claim.

"Yeah, why are they calling you Great Bakura?" Link added his two cents into the fray. Navi hovered impatiently, awaiting a response.

Bakura rolled his eyes, folding his arms. "It was nothing," he also repeated stubbornly, still looking annoyed. "I might have, at one point, saved the town, and they all got wind of it, and now-"

There was a laugh, and suddenly a tall, dark-skinned girl with long, red hair stood beside Bakura, draping one arm across his shoulders as she leaned casually against him. "Why, Bakura! Are you, perhaps, being _modest_, for once?"

Bakura's eyes narrowed. "Get off, Nabooru."

"Nice to see you too," she returned with a smile, not moving. "You're looking rather transparent today."

"Get off," Bakura said again, sounding dangerous.

She laughed at him again. "Rude and obnoxious, as always. I'm serious, what happened to you? Die recently?"

Ryou realized that she was probably referring to Bakura's temporary physical form. "Oh, that wasn't _recent_. That was..." he trailed off awkwardly as she glanced over at him interestedly.

"Bakura, how incredibly rude of you!" she scolded, finally releasing him. "You haven't introduced me to your friends!"

Bakura merely glowered at her, not about to say anything.

Nervously, Ryou spoke up. "My name is Ryou Bakura. Er, well. Just call me Ryou." He glanced at Bakura and then shrugged. "And this is Link. Nice to meet you."

Nabooru gave Link a polite nod, but her attention was clearly on Ryou. "Ryou _Bakura_, huh? So! You must be Bakura's long-lost, kind-of-twin-brother he's mentioned!" Ryou laughed a little, but before he could say anything, she had turned back to Bakura. "You're right, he _does_ look a lot like you. I can see how I got you two confused before."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "You've never met him before."

She waved him off. "So you say. And this one seems familiar, too, now that I think about it." She smiled at Link. "Nice to meet you, kid. Name's Nabooru. I'm in charge of the Gerudo here in Kakariko."

Link looked curious. "If you don't mind me asking, why _are_ there Gerudo in Kakariko?"

Nabooru shot Bakura a pointed look. "Because _some_one couldn't keep his nose in his own business."

Bakura looked as though he was about to answer this, but then didn't bother, merely rolling his eyes again.

Nabooru didn't seem to mind his moody silence. She turned back to Ryou. "So, I'd hope that _you_ at least know why Bakura appears to be a ghost today. Mind filling me in?"

Ryou shuffled his feet, glancing up at Bakura. "Er... That's not really mine to tell."

"He's so sweet!" Nabooru exclaimed suddenly, leaning against Bakura again. "He's like a polite, nice version of you! This _is_ making it rather hard for me to get the information I want, though."

"Nabooru, if you don't get off," Bakura hissed threateningly, "I'm going to seal your soul into the smallest wooden doll I can possibly make, and paint the whole thing _purple_."

Ryou was somewhat horrified at this statement, but Nabooru just laughed. "Touchy, touchy. Seriously, though, what finally finished you off?"

"_Nothing_," Bakura seethed. "Get off."

She ignored him, her attention now on his eyes. Thoughtfully, she waved a hand in front of him. "Hmm, you're having trouble seeing, aren't you? What, get hit by a Light spell? If I'd known _that_ was all it took..."

"The Light spell was my fault," Ryou admitted shyly. "I didn't mean to."

"I did _not_ get killed by a _Light_ spell," Bakura growled. "And I can see just fine. Would you get _off_ already?" For an instant, he vanished from view, just long enough to cause Nabooru to topple to the ground.

Nabooru yelped a little in surprise, but recovered quickly. She rolled back up to her feet again, turning around and leaning against Ryou instead. "Hmm, interesting. If not the Light spell, then what? You sure you can't tell me, Mini-Bakura? How about you, kid?" She looked from Ryou to Link with a raised eyebrow.

A cloud of shadows began to appear around Bakura as he scowled at her. "Leave us alone, Nabooru. We're kind of busy."

"What could possibly be more important than telling me what in the world happened to you?" Nabooru asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I don't know," Bakura returned sarcastically. "Maybe _saving_ the world? Perhaps I should reintroduce you to Link, here, since Ryou conveniently left off his _title_. This is the Hero of Time."

Abruptly, Nabooru stood up straight, seeming to see Link in a new light. "Really? You're the Hero of Time?"

Link hesitated a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I am."

Nabooru's face lit up. "Oh! _Very_ nice to meet you. Well, in that case, I should get busy, too! I'll go inform the other Gerudo you're here."

Link blinked. "Um. All right, then."

With a smirk, Nabooru turned away. "I'll see you later! Just know, anything you need us for, we'll do. If it means taking Ganondorf down, the Gerudo here will fight for you."

Link nodded again. "Thanks."

"No problem. And Bakura, don't think you're getting off the hook!" She shot a mock-glare at him over her shoulder as she walked away. "I _will_ get that story out of _some_one eventually!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Get out of here."

Nabooru just laughed, and then disappeared into one of the nearby buildings.

In irritation, Bakura turned and began stalking towards the entrance to the graveyard. "Come on."

"Wow," Navi spoke up for the first time in a while, sounding amused. "She's rather good at pushing your buttons. How'd you meet her?"

Bakura scowled. "We were fighting Ganondorf's forces once, and I attempted to Change of Heart the commander of the Gerudo troops, only to find that she was _already_ under mind control. I used a Despell to free her from it, and have regretted it ever since."

Ryou looked surprised. "You rescued her?"

"Her, and a few other Gerudo who'd been brainwashed. I've never seen a group more obnoxious, chatty, and complaining as they are, either. Every time I see them, it's: 'Why must it be so _cold_ in Kakariko?' or 'I want to have _white_ clothes!' or some other stupid thing they do in that desert of theirs that they want here. I don't know why I bothered in the first place!"

Ryou smiled. "Because annoying allies are better than enemies?"

Bakura sighed. "Pretty much."

Soon, they reached the graveyard. Bakura didn't even stop, walking purposefully towards a grave in a corner near the front. Without saying a word, he walked around behind the gravestone, took hold of the sides, and began to pull.

"What are you doing?!" Ryou stopped him, looking horrified.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Opening the grave so we can get inside. This is a cave entrance."

"It's a _grave_! You can't just-"

"It's a cave entrance," Bakura repeated in irritation. "We _told_ them not to dig here, but _no_. They wanted to put the grave here _anyway_. So they did, and within the week, the whole thing collapsed right into an old Sheikah tunnel. We had to seal the whole tunnel off so that Dampe couldn't go exploring where he shouldn't be. He's thrilled, though. Thinks we made the grave just for him. Irritating..."

Link frowned at the headstone thoughtfully. "Why don't you like Dampe?" he asked curiously. "He seemed really nice when I met him before."

Bakura let out a sigh, going back to pulling the stone away from the entrance. "Did you ever play Dampe's little 'Midnight Grave Digging Tour' game? The one where he'd hide stuff around the graveyard and make people pay him to dig for it?"

"That sounds terrible!" Ryou exclaimed.

Bakura shrugged. "He did it because he knows there's not actually anyone buried in this graveyard. Well, nobody except for him."

"Nobody at all?" Link sounded amazed.

"The Sheikah don't bury their dead," Bakura acknowledged with a nod. "They cremate them."

Navi looked appalled. "Then why have a graveyard at all?"

Bakura smirked at her. "To hide Sheikah stuff, of course. Nobody would dare disturb a 'graveyard'. Just for example, the entrance to the Shadow Temple is up there. And, as Link has discovered, the Royal Composer Brothers hid one of their songs down in one of the 'tombs'. There's also a fairy's fountain here."

"Wow. I didn't know that before," Link mentioned, glancing around the place interestedly.

Bakura shrugged. "Of course you didn't. Anyway, Dampe knows about it because he likes to dig. And he'll dig pretty much anywhere. Apparently, he discovered some of our stuff in here a long time ago, and Impa gave him a map of places he was allowed to dig, and places he wasn't. And at that point, they made him the official grave keeper, to keep anyone else from digging in those places, too. But he's been fascinated with the Sheikah ever since, which is really annoying."

Ryou nodded thoughtfully. "So, you don't dislike him because of anything he did to you personally. You just find him annoying because the rest of the Sheikah do."

"Not exactly," Bakura stated, rolling his eyes. "He's _also_ just flat-out annoying. Come on, let's get this over with. We have a hookshot to retrieve." Without waiting for a response, Bakura jumped down into the hole that had been revealed when the gravestone was pulled back.

Quickly, Ryou followed him. "W-wait!"

Link hesitated for a moment, glancing at Navi. "Well, Déjà vu, huh? Only, I guess this time we actually _are_ grave-robbing..."

Navi shrugged, flying down to land on his shoulder. "Hurry up, or you'll lose them."

With a nod, Link jumped down into the hole.

* * *

... Whew, I think I'm done. XD That only took forever. Seriously, there were really only like... five, six events that actually happened, and yet it took 46 pages to write it. =P I've got to stop making everything I write so freaking long.

Also, I apologize for the first-person Bakura scene. D= It's been a long time since I've written a first-person story, and I wanted to try it out again.

Anyway. So, as far as potential updates to this:

I love this story. I love Bakura's adventures with the Sheikah. I love Mido and Sheik. I love each one of the many ideas that Katie and I have come up with for this story. I love it all.

But I don't think I'll continue it. At least not in the same way that it's currently being written.

If I write anything for the story at all, it's going to be merely a collection of short stories portraying events occurring _during_ the seven year gap. Stuff with Bakura, stuff with Sheik, stuff with Mido, etc. (I may even actually tell you guys who Mido is. XD)

So, yeah. This is the last of the actual chapters, portraying current events with Ryou. Wave goodbye to Ryou! (waves)

Anyway, keep an eye on my profile for update statuses for this and all of my stories. I'll be working mostly on writing my original novel (wish me luck on that!) and also on my Bleach stories, mostly Day Before Tomorrow, but eventually Feeling Hollow as well. But when I have free time (or I just get sick of writing other stuff) I'll definitely work on some of those short stories. =D

So, I'll see you all later. Byez!


End file.
